Auguste Comte
1798–1857The Nineteenth Century
He turned the study of society into a science—and science into a blueprint for society.
3 works · 1,726 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% |
7 philosophers match
By year of birth
18th c. CE
1 in the arena
19th c. CE
6 in the arena
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Ludwig Feuerbach
1804–1872The Nineteenth Century
The critique that returned divine perfection to the humans who had projected it.
2 works · 701 passages grounded
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Karl Marx
1818–1883The Nineteenth Century
The critique that found exploitation inside the ordinary exchange of wages and commodities
10 works · 5,294 passages grounded
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Friedrich Engels
1820–1895The Nineteenth Century
Factory smoke and crowded housing became an indictment of capitalism’s claim to progress.
4 works · 1,312 passages grounded
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Herbert Spencer
1820–1903The Nineteenth Century
Evolution escaped biology, turning society, mind, and cosmos into historical processes.
12 works · 8,414 passages grounded
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William James
1842–1910The Nineteenth Century
Consciousness became a stream, and truth a wager tested in experience.
8 works · 4,377 passages grounded
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Friedrich Nietzsche
1844–1900The Nineteenth Century
Inherited values became suspects: Nietzsche taught philosophy to distrust the motives behind its ideals.
17 works · 6,728 passages grounded