121 Great Philosophers

Twenty-seven centuries of argument, one page each. Who they answered, what they claimed, and what changed because of them.

How this list was made

The Atlas covers philosophers whose work is still argued with, and it deliberately runs from the Vedic period to the present day rather than starting in Greece. Kapila, Confucius, Zhuangzi, Shankara and Nagarjuna are here on the same terms as Plato and Kant, and each is placed in the tradition he actually worked in rather than being measured against a Western sequence he had nothing to do with.

Every entry answers the same questions. What did he claim, in one sentence. What was he answering, and who answered him. What did he get wrong, and what do people commonly get wrong about him. Where should you start if you have never read him. The last of those is the one most reference works leave out, and it is often the only one a reader actually needs.

Entries are grouped into fourteen periods and ten traditions. Both are conveniences rather than truths: Averroes belongs to the Islamic Golden Age and to medieval Europe, Spinoza to Jewish thought and to the Dutch Enlightenment, and any single label loses something. The connections between entries are the more honest guide, and every philosopher's page carries them.

Dates before roughly 500 BCE are approximate by nature, and several figures here — Laozi and Kapila among them — may be composite or legendary. Where that is so the entry says so rather than inventing a precision the record does not support. Traditional dates are marked as traditional.

The judgements are mine, which means the ratings and the verdicts are opinions and should be read as such. The facts are from the standard scholarly record; where accounts genuinely disagree the entry says so instead of quietly picking a side. Corrections are welcome and I would rather have them than not.

The Great Philosophers

Every philosopher in the Atlas, from the Vedic period to the present day.

120 philosophers

A800 – 300 BCE

Yajnavalkya Yajnavalkya 750 BCE – 680 BCE Kapila Kapila 650 BCE – 575 BCE Thales Thales 624 BCE – 546 BCE Anaximander of Miletus Anaximander of Miletus 610 BCE – 546 BCE Confucius Confucius 551 BCE – 479 BCE Mahavira Mahavira 540 BCE – 468 BCE Buddha Buddha 480 BCE – 400 BCE Mozi Mozi 470 BCE – 391 BCE Zhuangzi Zhuangzi 369 BCE – 286 BCE Nagarjuna Nagarjuna 150 – 250 Vasubandhu Vasubandhu 350 – 430

C470 – 350 BCE

Socrates Socrates 470 BCE – 399 BCE Prodicus of Ceos Prodicus of Ceos 465 BCE – 395 BCE Democritus Democritus 460 BCE – 370 BCE Thrasymachus of Chalcedon Thrasymachus of Chalcedon 459 BCE – 400 BCE Plato Plato 428 BCE – 348 BCE Aristotle Aristotle 384 BCE – 322 BCE Pyrrho of Elis Pyrrho of Elis 365 BCE – 275 BCE

CSince 1920

John Bordley Rawls John Bordley Rawls 1921 – 2002 Gilles Deleuze Gilles Deleuze 1925 – 1995 Paul-Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault 1926 – 1984 Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida 1930 – 2004 Michael Leunig Michael Leunig 1945 – 2024 Peter Singer Peter Singer b. 1946 Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek b. 1949 Judith Butler Judith Butler b. 1956 Achille Mbembe Achille Mbembe b. 1957 Byung-Chul Han Byung-Chul Han b. 1959 Nick Land Nick Land b. 1962 Mariarosaria Taddeo Mariarosaria Taddeo b. 1980

E1870 – 1920

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Russell 1872 – 1970 Carl Gustav Jung Carl Gustav Jung 1875 – 1961 Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889 – 1951 Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger 1889 – 1976 Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap 1891 – 1970 Karl Raimund Popper Karl Raimund Popper 1902 – 1994 Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre 1905 – 1980 Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt 1906 – 1975 Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty 1908 – 1961 Simone de Beauvoir Simone de Beauvoir 1908 – 1986 Willard Van Orman Quine Willard Van Orman Quine 1908 – 2000 Albert Camus Albert Camus 1913 – 1960

E1650 – 1780

George Berkeley George Berkeley 1685 – 1753 Thomas Reid Thomas Reid 1710 – 1796 David Hume David Hume 1711 – 1776 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778 Adam Smith Adam Smith 1723 – 1790 Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804 Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham 1748 – 1832 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 – 1832 Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 – 1797 Johann Gottlieb Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte 1762 – 1814 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 1770 – 1831

H350 – 120 BCE

Epicurus Epicurus 341 BCE – 270 BCE Zeno of Citium Zeno of Citium 334 BCE – 262 BCE

I800 – 1258

Al-Farabi Al-Farabi 872 – 950 Avicenna Avicenna 980 – 1037 Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali 1058 – 1111 Averroes Averroes 1126 – 1198

M400 – 1400

Boethius Boethius 477 – 524 Dionysius the Areopagite Dionysius the Areopagite 500 – 550 Shankara Shankara 788 – 820 John Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena 815 – 877 Ramanujacharya Ramanujacharya 1017 – 1137 Anselm of Canterbury Anselm of Canterbury 1033 – 1109 Roscellinus of Compiègne Roscellinus of Compiègne 1050 – 1125 Odo of Tournai Odo of Tournai 1060 – 1113 William of Champeaux William of Champeaux 1070 – 1121 Peter Abelard Peter Abelard 1079 – 1142 Zhu Xi Zhu Xi 1130 – 1200 Maimonides Maimonides 1138 – 1204 Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas 1225 – 1274 Meister Eckhart Meister Eckhart 1260 – 1328 Duns Scotus Duns Scotus 1266 – 1308 William of Ockham William of Ockham 1287 – 1347

N1780 – 1870

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer 1788 – 1860 John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1806 – 1873 Søren Aabye Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard 1813 – 1855 Karl Marx Karl Marx 1818 – 1883 Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce 1839 – 1914 William James William James 1842 – 1910 Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche 1844 – 1900 Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud 1856 – 1939 Edmund Husserl Edmund Husserl 1859 – 1938 Henri-Louis Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson 1859 – 1941 John Dewey John Dewey 1859 – 1952 Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead 1861 – 1947

P600 – 470 BCE

Anaximenes of Miletus Anaximenes of Miletus 586 BCE – 526 BCE Pythagoras Pythagoras 570 BCE – 495 BCE Heraclitus Heraclitus 535 BCE – 475 BCE Parmenides of Elea Parmenides of Elea 515 BCE – 460 BCE Anaxagoras of Clazomenae Anaxagoras of Clazomenae 500 BCE – 428 BCE Zeno of Elea Zeno of Elea 495 BCE – 430 BCE Empedocles of Acragas Empedocles of Acragas 494 BCE – 434 BCE Protagoras of Abdera Protagoras of Abdera 490 BCE – 420 BCE Gorgias of Leontini Gorgias of Leontini 485 BCE – 380 BCE Leucippus of Miletus Leucippus of Miletus 480 BCE – 420 BCE

R1400 – 1543

Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa 1401 – 1464 Marsilio Ficino Marsilio Ficino 1433 – 1499 Pico della Mirandola Pico della Mirandola 1463 – 1494 Erasmus of Rotterdam Erasmus of Rotterdam 1466 – 1536 Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 – 1527 Martin Luther Martin Luther 1483 – 1546 Michel de Montaigne Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592

R120 BCE – 400 CE

Cicero Cicero 106 BCE – 43 BCE Lucretius Lucretius 99 BCE – 55 BCE Philo of Alexandria Philo of Alexandria 20 BCE – 50 Epictetus Epictetus 50 – 135 Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius 121 – 180 Sextus Empiricus Sextus Empiricus 160 – 210 Plotinus Plotinus 204 – 270 Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo 354 – 430

S1543 – 1650

Giordano Bruno Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600 Francis Bacon Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626 Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679 René Descartes René Descartes 1596 – 1650 Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662 Baruch Spinoza Baruch Spinoza 1632 – 1677 John Locke John Locke 1632 – 1704 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646 – 1716