2,600 years · 163 thinkers · every tradition

Every great mind.
One living map.

What the world’s greatest thinkers actually argued — and why. From Confucius and the Buddha to Nietzsche: follow the big questions, trace who shaped whom, and read their own words.

Explore the thinkers →Ask them a question

Philosophers: 163
Schools: 62
Works: 323
Years: 2,600

Start with a question

The questions that never went away

New to philosophy? Don’t start with names. Pick a question and watch 2,600 years of thinkers answer each other.

Does God exist?Can reason prove — or disprove — the existence of God?Anselm of CanterburyArgues from the concept alone: God is 'that than which nothing greater can be conceived', and such a being must exist in reality — the ontological argument.AvicennaArgues from contingency: everything merely possible needs a cause, so there must be a 'Necessary Existent' whose very essence is to exist.Thomas AquinasRejects Anselm's a priori proof but offers the Five Ways — from motion, causation, contingency, degrees, and design — to a first cause 'all call God'.12 thinkers What is reality made of?Beneath the changing world of appearances, what is truly, fundamentally real?16 thinkers How do we know anything?What can we really know, and how — through reason, the senses, or not at all?14 thinkers Do we have free will?Are our choices truly free, or fixed by fate, God, or the laws of nature?11 thinkers How should we live?What is the good life, and how should a human being live it?16 thinkers What is a just society?What makes political power legitimate, and a society just?16 thinkers What is the self?Is there a real, enduring self — a soul, a mind, an 'I' — or not?12 thinkers What is language?How do words hook onto the world, and where does meaning come from?11 thinkers What is beauty?Is beauty in the object, in the eye, or somewhere between — and what is art for?10 thinkers What is science?What makes knowledge scientific — and how does nature yield its laws?10 thinkers Why obey the state?Where does political authority come from, and what may it rightfully demand?12 thinkers

Meet the minds

Start with a face

All 163 philosophers

Socrates

SocraticSocrates470–399 BCE“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Confucius

ConfucianismConfucius551–479 BCE

Friedrich Nietzsche

ExistentialismFriedrich Nietzsche1844–1900 CE

Hypatia of Alexandria

NeoplatonismHypatia of Alexandria360–415 CE

The Buddha

BuddhismThe Buddha563–483 BCE

Marcus Aurelius

StoicismMarcus Aurelius121–180 CE

The timeline

2,600 years, one line

Every philosopher in order, every tradition at once. The Buddha, Confucius and Laozi stand beside the first Greeks. Hover a mark; click to open.

500 BCE400 BCE300 BCE100 BCE200 CE400 CE600 CE1000 CE1200 CE1400 CE1600 CE1800 CE1900 CE

Thales of Miletus · 624–546 BCE Anaximander · 610–546 BCE Cārvāka (Lokāyata) · 600–500 BCE Mahāvīra · 599–527 BCE Anaximenes · 586–526 BCE Pythagoras · 570–495 BCE Xenophanes of Colophon · 570–478 BCE Laozi · 570–500 BCE The Buddha · 563–483 BCE Confucius · 551–479 BCE Heraclitus · 535–475 BCE Parmenides · 515–450 BCE Anaxagoras · 500–428 BCE Empedocles · 494–434 BCE Zeno of Elea · 490–430 BCE Protagoras · 490–420 BCE Gorgias · 483–375 BCE Leucippus · 480–420 BCE Socrates · 470–399 BCE Melissus of Samos · 470–430 BCE Philolaus · 470–385 BCE Mozi · 470–391 BCE Democritus · 460–370 BCE Antisthenes · 445–365 BCE Aristippus of Cyrene · 435–356 BCE Archytas of Tarentum · 435–347 BCE Xenophon · 430–354 BCE Plato · 428–348 BCE Diogenes of Sinope · 412–323 BCE Aristotle · 384–322 BCE Mencius · 372–289 BCE Theophrastus · 371–287 BCE Zhuangzi · 369–286 BCE Crates of Thebes · 365–285 BCE Pyrrho of Elis · 360–270 BCE Hipparchia of Maroneia · 350–280 BCE Epicurus · 341–270 BCE Zeno of Citium · 334–262 BCE Cleanthes · 330–230 BCE Arcesilaus · 316–241 BCE Xunzi · 310–235 BCE Han Feizi · 280–233 BCE Chrysippus · 279–206 BCE Carneades · 214–129 BCE Kaṇāda · 200–140 BCE Panaetius of Rhodes · 185–110 BCE Posidonius · 135–51 BCE Cicero · 106–43 BCE Lucretius · 99–55 BCE Aenesidemus · 80–10 BCE Philo of Alexandria · 25 BCE – 50 CE Seneca · 4 BCE – 65 CE Musonius Rufus · 30–100 CE Plutarch · 46–120 CE Epictetus · 50–135 CE Marcus Aurelius · 121–180 CE Patañjali · 150–200 CE Nāgārjuna · 150–250 CE Akṣapāda Gautama · 150–200 CE Sextus Empiricus · 160–210 CE Plotinus · 204–270 CE Porphyry · 234–305 CE Iamblichus · 245–325 CE Asaṅga · 300–370 CE Īśvarakṛṣṇa · 320–380 CE Vasubandhu · 350–430 CE Augustine of Hippo · 354–430 CE Hypatia of Alexandria · 360–415 CE Proclus · 412–485 CE Bodhidharma · 440–530 CE Boethius · 477–524 CE Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite · 480–530 CE Dignāga · 480–540 CE Dharmakīrti · 600–660 CE Huineng · 638–713 CE Ādi Śaṅkara · 700–750 CE Al-Kindī · 801–873 CE John Scotus Eriugena · 815–877 CE Al-Fārābī · 872–950 CE Saadia Gaon · 882–942 CE Avicenna · 980–1037 CE Michael Psellos · 1017–1078 CE Rāmānuja · 1017–1137 CE Zhou Dunyi · 1017–1073 CE Solomon ibn Gabirol · 1021–1058 CE Anselm of Canterbury · 1033–1109 CE Cheng Yi · 1033–1107 CE Al-Ghazālī · 1058–1111 CE Judah Halevi · 1075–1141 CE Peter Abelard · 1079–1142 CE Bernard of Clairvaux · 1090–1153 CE Peter Lombard · 1096–1160 CE Hildegard of Bingen · 1098–1179 CE Averroes · 1126–1198 CE Zhu Xi · 1130–1200 CE Maimonides · 1138–1204 CE Lu Jiuyuan · 1139–1193 CE Suhrawardī · 1154–1191 CE Ibn ʿArabī · 1165–1240 CE Robert Grosseteste · 1168–1253 CE Albertus Magnus · 1200–1280 CE Henry of Ghent · 1217–1293 CE Roger Bacon · 1219–1292 CE Bonaventure · 1221–1274 CE Thomas Aquinas · 1225–1274 CE Ramon Llull · 1232–1316 CE Madhva · 1238–1317 CE Siger of Brabant · 1240–1284 CE Marguerite Porete · 1250–1310 CE Meister Eckhart · 1260–1328 CE John Duns Scotus · 1266–1308 CE Marsilius of Padua · 1275–1342 CE William of Ockham · 1287–1347 CE Gregory Palamas · 1296–1359 CE Jean Buridan · 1301–1362 CE Ibn Khaldūn · 1332–1406 CE Gemistos Plethon · 1355–1452 CE Nicholas of Cusa · 1401–1464 CE Niccolò Machiavelli · 1469–1527 CE Wang Yangming · 1472–1529 CE Michel de Montaigne · 1533–1592 CE Francis Bacon · 1561–1626 CE Thomas Hobbes · 1588–1679 CE René Descartes · 1596–1650 CE Blaise Pascal · 1623–1662 CE Baruch Spinoza · 1632–1677 CE John Locke · 1632–1704 CE Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz · 1646–1716 CE George Berkeley · 1685–1753 CE Montesquieu · 1689–1755 CE Voltaire · 1694–1778 CE Émilie du Châtelet · 1706–1749 CE David Hume · 1711–1776 CE Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1712–1778 CE Adam Smith · 1723–1790 CE Immanuel Kant · 1724–1804 CE Mary Wollstonecraft · 1759–1797 CE G. W. F. Hegel · 1770–1831 CE Arthur Schopenhauer · 1788–1860 CE John Stuart Mill · 1806–1873 CE Søren Kierkegaard · 1813–1855 CE Karl Marx · 1818–1883 CE Charles Sanders Peirce · 1839–1914 CE William James · 1842–1910 CE Friedrich Nietzsche · 1844–1900 CE Gottlob Frege · 1848–1925 CE Edmund Husserl · 1859–1938 CE Nishida Kitarō · 1870–1945 CE Bertrand Russell · 1872–1970 CE Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1889–1951 CE Martin Heidegger · 1889–1976 CE Karl Popper · 1902–1994 CE Jean-Paul Sartre · 1905–1980 CE Hannah Arendt · 1906–1975 CE Simone de Beauvoir · 1908–1986 CE W. V. O. Quine · 1908–2000 CE John Rawls · 1921–2002 CE Thomas Kuhn · 1922–1996 CE Frantz Fanon · 1925–1961 CE Michel Foucault · 1926–1984 CE Peter Singer · 1946 CE – present Martha Nussbaum · 1947 CE – present David Chalmers · 1966 CE – present

The catalogue

All 163 philosophers

163 of 163

Ask the philosophers

Ask anything. They’ll answer in their own words.

Searches by meaning across Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and every public-domain text here — every answer opens at the passage.