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The collection

The Philosophers

Every thinker here answers out of their own texts. Choose a voice and put your question to it.

Philosophers
148
Works
843
Passages
298k+
Centuries spanned
26

When the thinkers were born — philosophers per century

148 philosophers, born across 26 centuries from the 7th c. BCE to the 19th c. CE. The 19th c. CE is the fullest, with 29.
Philosophers born, by century
CenturyPhilosophers born
7th c. BCE3
6th c. BCE3
5th c. BCE2
4th c. BCE2
3rd c. BCE3
2nd c. BCE4
1st c. BCE4
1st c. CE4
2nd c. CE4
3rd c. CE1
4th c. CE5
5th c. CE6
6th c. CE1
7th c. CE4
8th c. CE1
9th c. CE4
10th c. CE4
11th c. CE10
12th c. CE4
13th c. CE5
14th c. CE3
15th c. CE3
16th c. CE9
17th c. CE9
18th c. CE21
19th c. CE29

Which traditions they come from — philosophers per tradition

148 philosophers across 6 traditions. Widths are shares of the roster; the names are in the legend.
  • The Western tradition 87
  • The Indian tradition 29
  • The Chinese tradition 15
  • The Japanese tradition 6
  • The Jewish tradition 6
  • The Islamic and Persian tradition 5
Philosophers by tradition
TraditionPhilosophersShare
The Western tradition8759%
The Indian tradition2920%
The Chinese tradition1510%
The Japanese tradition64%
The Jewish tradition64%
The Islamic and Persian tradition53%

What the corpus argues about — share of the canon per question

The six great questions, ranked by their share of every tagged passage in the corpus. Mind and knowledge leads at 11.5%. A passage can answer to more than one question, so the six do not sum to a whole.
Share of the canon by question
QuestionShare of the canon
Mind and knowledge11.5%
Metaphysics and the cosmos10%
Politics and power9.5%
Ethics and the good life7.8%
Logic and language4.4%
Being and existence4.1%

7 philosophers match

Political philosophy

Political philosophy examines how communities organise power, authority, law, and common life. Unlike ethics, which asks how individuals ought to act, it asks who may rule and under what conditions. Its subject is collective order.

7 in the arena

  1. Christine de Pizan

    1364–1430

    The Medieval World

    Christine de Pizan, a widow who wrote for her living at the French court, argued around 1400 that women's supposed inferiority was custom, not nature.

    7 works · 2,076 passages grounded

  2. Niccolò Machiavelli

    1469–1527

    The Renaissance

    Niccolò Machiavelli examined power, fear, fortune, and republican liberty in The Prince and Discourses on Livy—ideas that still test political judgment.

    5 works · 1,937 passages grounded

  3. Thomas Hobbes

    1588–1679

    Early Modern

    Thomas Hobbes argued that people make governments out of fear of one another and owe them obedience. His thought on power, freedom and a world of bodies.

    6 works · 2,400 passages grounded

  4. Carl von Clausewitz

    1780–1831

    The Nineteenth Century

    Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), Prussian officer, held that war continues politics by other means: friction, two kinds of war, a purpose that limits it.

    3 works · 2,820 passages grounded

  5. Publius

    1787–1788

    The Enlightenment

    Publius, the pen name shared by Hamilton, Madison and Jay, argued in The Federalist that strong national government is liberty's protection, not its enemy.

    1 work · 712 passages grounded

  6. Alexis de Tocqueville

    1805–1859

    The Nineteenth Century

    Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) held equality unstoppable and asked whether equal peoples stay free: tyranny of the majority, soft despotism, association.

    5 works · 2,812 passages grounded

  7. Mahatma Gandhi

    1869–1948

    Modern Indian Thought

    Mahatma Gandhi argued that breaking an unjust law openly and accepting the penalty takes more courage than violence, and that no opponent is an enemy.

    2 works · 381 passages grounded