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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%

5 philosophers match

Zen

Zen is the Japanese form of Chan, the meditation school of Chinese Buddhism, brought to Japan from the late twelfth century. Like Chan, it holds that awakening passes from teacher to pupil and must be realised in one's own experience. Against the established Tendai and Shingon schools, it put sitting meditation and the *kōan*, an old case set as a problem to break through, before scripture and ritual. Its two main lines are Rinzai, which trains with kōans, and Sōtō, which puts sitting first.

5 in the arena

  1. Dōgen

    1200–1253

    Heian and Kamakura Buddhism

    Dōgen held that sitting in zazen is not a means to awakening but awakening itself, and in the Shōbōgenzō made old sutras say more.

    3 works · 1,526 passages grounded

  2. Shūhō Myōchō

    1283–1338

    Heian and Kamakura Buddhism

    Shūhō Myōchō, Daitō Kokushi, founded Daitoku-ji, answered the Chinese Zen masters with capping phrases and pressed every student toward awakening.

    1 work · 293 passages grounded

  3. Takuan Sōhō

    1573–1646

    Edo and Tokugawa

    Takuan Sōhō, Zen abbot of Daitoku-ji exiled by the shogunate, taught the sword master Yagyū Munenori a mind that stops nowhere and so moves anywhere.

    1 work · 30 passages grounded

  4. Hakuin Ekaku

    1686–1769

    Edo and Tokugawa

    Hakuin Ekaku, restorer of Japanese Rinzai Zen: the great doubt, his attack on quiet sitting, and the breathing cure of Idle Talk on a Night Boat.

    2 works · 447 passages grounded

  5. Kaiten Nukariya

    1867–1934

    Meiji and After

    Kaiten Nukariya, Sōtō Zen priest and first president of Komazawa University, argued in English that Zen needs no scripture and preaches no despair.

    1 work · 256 passages grounded