David Hume
1711–1776The Enlightenment
Habit, not reason, became the hidden engine of belief, putting certainty permanently on trial.
7 works · 2,890 passages grounded
The collection
The Philosophers
Every thinker here answers out of their own texts. Choose a voice and put your question to it.
- Philosophers
- 38
- Works
- 291
- Passages
- 112,227
- Centuries spanned
- 24
When the thinkers were born — philosophers per century
| Century | Philosophers born |
|---|---|
| 6th c. BCE | 1 |
| 5th c. BCE | 1 |
| 4th c. BCE | 2 |
| 2nd c. BCE | 1 |
| 1st c. BCE | 1 |
| 1st c. CE | 1 |
| 2nd c. CE | 1 |
| 4th c. CE | 1 |
| 5th c. CE | 1 |
| 13th c. CE | 2 |
| 15th c. CE | 1 |
| 16th c. CE | 2 |
| 17th c. CE | 3 |
| 18th c. CE | 14 |
| 19th c. CE | 6 |
Which traditions they come from — philosophers per tradition
- The Western tradition 37
- The Chinese tradition 1
| Tradition | Philosophers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| The Western tradition | 37 | 97% |
| The Chinese tradition | 1 | 3% |
What the corpus argues about — share of the canon per question
| Question | Share of the canon |
|---|---|
| Mind and knowledge | 15.3% |
| Politics and power | 11.5% |
| Ethics and the good life | 9.6% |
| Metaphysics and the cosmos | 9% |
| Logic and language | 5.3% |
| Being and existence | 4.5% |
10 philosophers match
By year of birth
18th c. CE
10 in the arena
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1712–1778The Enlightenment
Against inherited authority, Rousseau made freedom both the law’s condition and education’s aim.
4 works · 2,779 passages grounded
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Denis Diderot
1713–1784The Enlightenment
When matter began to think, priests, kings, and moral certainties lost their monopoly.
5 works · 498 passages grounded
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Adam Smith
1723–1790The Enlightenment
Wealth could be explained without reducing human beings to greed—and markets without excusing monopolies.
3 works · 2,623 passages grounded
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Baron d'Holbach
1723–1789The Enlightenment
Theology met a materialist enemy: necessity replaced divine purpose, and morality served human welfare.
5 works · 1,924 passages grounded
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Immanuel Kant
1724–1804The Enlightenment
The critique that limited knowledge and recast freedom as obedience to self-given law
17 works · 5,216 passages grounded
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Moses Mendelssohn
1729–1786The Enlightenment
Religious liberty defended Judaism without asking reason to become less demanding.
3 works · 716 passages grounded
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Edmund Burke
1729–1797The Enlightenment
The defence of inherited institutions against the fantasy that politics can begin from zero
36 works · 4,446 passages grounded
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Jeremy Bentham
1748–1832The Enlightenment
Pleasure and pain became a legislative test, forcing law to justify every burden.
27 works · 7,051 passages grounded
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Mary Wollstonecraft
1759–1797The Enlightenment
Women’s education became a revolt against inherited authority—and a claim to equal humanity.
5 works · 1,008 passages grounded