Philosophers — Philosophy Arena

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
Century	Philosophers born
7th c. BCE	3
6th c. BCE	3
5th c. BCE	2
4th c. BCE	2
3rd c. BCE	3
2nd c. BCE	4
1st c. BCE	4
1st c. CE	4
2nd c. CE	4
3rd c. CE	1
4th c. CE	5
5th c. CE	6
6th c. CE	1
7th c. CE	4
8th c. CE	1
9th c. CE	4
10th c. CE	4
11th c. CE	10
12th c. CE	4
13th c. CE	5
14th c. CE	3
15th c. CE	3
16th c. CE	9
17th c. CE	9
18th c. CE	21
19th c. CE	29

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
Tradition	Philosophers	Share
The Western tradition	87	59%
The Indian tradition	29	20%
The Chinese tradition	15	10%
The Japanese tradition	6	4%
The Jewish tradition	6	4%
The Islamic and Persian tradition	5	3%

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
Question	Share of the canon
Mind and knowledge	11.5%
Metaphysics and the cosmos	10%
Politics and power	9.5%
Ethics and the good life	7.8%
Logic and language	4.4%
Being and existence	4.1%

Search the roster

3 philosophers match

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism holds that conduct should be judged by its consequences, and that the right act is the one that produces the greatest total well-being. It counts one person’s welfare no more than another’s. Unlike deontological ethics, it does not make rules or intentions decisive when the consequences point elsewhere.

3 in the arena

Jeremy Bentham
1748–1832
The Enlightenment

Jeremy Bentham made utility a test for law, punishment, and government—an introduction to his philosophy and programme of legal reform.
27 works · 6,591 passages grounded
John Stuart Mill
1806–1873
The Nineteenth Century

John Stuart Mill held that society may coerce an adult only to prevent harm to others. His thought on liberty, happiness, logic and the equality of women.
10 works · 4,261 passages grounded
Henry Sidgwick
1838–1900
The Nineteenth Century

Henry Sidgwick, the Cambridge moralist who tested ordinary morality rule by rule and found reason itself split between duty and self-interest.
8 works · 3,188 passages grounded

When the thinkers were born — philosophers per century

Which traditions they come from — philosophers per tradition

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

Jeremy Bentham

John Stuart Mill

Henry Sidgwick