Seneca
4 BCE – 65 CEImperial Rome
Stoic philosophy turned anger, exile, wealth, and death into training grounds for freedom.
12 works · 1,196 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% |
3 philosophers match
By year of birth
1st c. BCE
1 in the arena
-
4 BCE
1st c. CE
1 in the arena
-
Epictetus
50–135Imperial Rome
Freedom became a discipline: govern judgment, release everything else.
2 works · 772 passages grounded
2nd c. CE
1 in the arena
-
Marcus Aurelius
121–180Imperial Rome
An emperor’s private notes made self-command a daily practice against anger, loss, and death.
1 works · 594 passages grounded