Thinkers

Historical image Modern interpretation Roman StoicismAvailable

Seneca

Birth and death4 BCE-65 CE2,029 years agoEraAntiquity Roman philosopher, playwright, and adviser, Seneca tests ethics against anger, power, and time slipping away. Corpus 2,664 passages 13 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Roman StoicismAvailable

Marcus Aurelius

Birth and death121-180 CE1,905 years agoEraAntiquity Roman emperor and Stoic practitioner, Marcus Aurelius wrote private notes to keep himself steady under the weight of power. Corpus 487 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation ChristianityAvailable

Jesus of Nazareth

Birth and deathlate 1st c. BCE–early 1st c. CEabout 2,075 years agoEraAntiquity First-century Jewish preacher and teacher, Jesus stands at the centre of the Gospel narratives and the emergence of Christianity. Corpus 1,515 passages 78 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Fictional Jedi traditionAvailable

Yoda

Birth and deathfictional canonEraFiction Fictional Jedi master, Yoda teaches patience, attention, and courage through riddling phrases and a sharp sense of timing. Corpus 167 passages 1 work · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Roman StoicismAvailable

Epictetus

Birth and deathc. 50–135 CEabout 1,976 years agoEraAntiquity Former slave turned Stoic teacher, Epictetus taught people to separate what is up to us from what is not. Corpus 179 passages 3 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Socratic and Platonic thoughtAvailable

Socrates

Birth and death469–399 BCE2,494 years agoEraAntiquity An Athenian philosopher who wrote nothing, Socrates tested certainty through persistent questions. Corpus 1,007 passages 18 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Socratic and Platonic thoughtAvailable

Plato

Birth and deathc. 428–348 BCEabout 2,453 years agoEraAntiquity A student of Socrates and founder of the Academy, Plato turned philosophy’s largest questions into living dialogues. Corpus 1,565 passages 26 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation EpicureanismAvailable

Epicurus

Birth and death341–270 BCE2,366 years agoEraAntiquity Founder of the Garden, Epicurus sought happiness in simplicity, friendship, and freedom from fear. Corpus 104 passages 5 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Greek and Roman traditionsAvailable

Cicero

Birth and death106–43 BCE2,131 years agoEraAntiquity Roman lawyer, statesman, and writer, Cicero gave the debates of Greek philosophy a Latin voice. Corpus 8,009 passages 21 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Roman StoicismAvailable

Musonius Rufus

Birth and deathc. 30–c. 101 CEabout 1,996 years agoEraAntiquity A Roman Stoic teacher, Musonius Rufus brought philosophy back to daily work, courage, and actual conduct. Corpus 53 passages 2 works · 4 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Greek and Roman traditionsAvailable

Diogenes of Sinope

Birth and deathc. 412–323 BCEabout 2,437 years agoEraAntiquity A Cynic philosopher from Sinope, Diogenes challenged convention through a public, poor, and fiercely free life. Corpus 62 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation SkepticismAvailable

Sextus Empiricus

Birth and death2nd–3rd c. CEabout 1,876 years agoEraAntiquity A physician and skeptical author, Sextus Empiricus suspended judgment when opposing arguments remained evenly matched. Corpus 2,735 passages 5 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern reception of StoicismAvailable

Elizabeth Carter

Birth and death1717–1806309 years agoEraModern era An English poet, correspondent, and translator, Elizabeth Carter brought Epictetus to a wide English-speaking readership. Corpus 778 passages 8 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Greek and Roman traditionsAvailable

Aristotle

Birth and death384–322 BCE2,409 years agoEraAntiquity Plato’s student and founder of the Lyceum, Aristotle distinguished causes, ends, and forms to investigate virtue, civic life, speech, and the arts. Corpus 1,396 passages 6 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Friedrich Nietzsche

Birth and death1844–1900182 years agoEraModern era A philologist turned genealogist of morals, Nietzsche tests which forms of life our ideals nourish and what they train us not to see. Corpus 3,589 passages 24 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation SkepticismAvailable

Michel de Montaigne

Birth and death1533–1592493 years agoEraMedieval and Renaissance Magistrate, traveler and essayist, Montaigne tests inherited rules against bodily experience, foreign customs and his own changing judgment. Corpus 106 passages 1 work · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Socratic and Platonic thoughtAvailable

Plutarch

Birth and deathc. 46–c. 119 CEabout 1,980 years agoEraAntiquity Priest, Platonist and biographer, Plutarch compares choices under unequal fortunes to see where character becomes public action. Corpus 1,503 passages 16 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early StoicismAvailable

Chrysippus

Birth and deathc. 279–c. 206 BCEabout 2,304 years agoEraAntiquity Third head of the Stoa, Chrysippus tests implications across logic, physics and ethics while keeping every surviving claim attached to its later carrier. Corpus 551 passages 2 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early StoicismAvailable

Zeno of Citium

Birth and deathc. 334–c. 262 BCEabout 2,359 years agoEraAntiquity Founder of the Stoa reconstructed from 251 source-critical carrier pages, with no lost work treated as surviving autobiography. Corpus 251 passages 2 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early StoicismAvailable

Cleanthes

Birth and deathc. 330–c. 230 BCEabout 2,355 years agoEraAntiquity Second head of the Stoa, Cleanthes joins cosmic order to willing, sustainable action through one surviving hymn and source-qualified ancient carriers. Corpus 132 passages 3 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Greek and Roman traditionsAvailable

Stilpo of Megara

Birth and deathc. 360–c. 280 BCEabout 2,385 years agoEraAntiquity Megaric dialectician reconstructed from the complete trilingual Stilpo chapter of Diogenes Laertius, with every anecdote and reported saying kept carrier-qualified. Corpus 7 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation SkepticismAvailable

Carneades

Birth and deathc. 214–c. 129 BCEabout 2,239 years agoEraAntiquity Academic skeptic reconstructed from one hundred carrier-qualified testimonia in Greek, Latin, French, and English, with opposed advocacy separated from dogmatic denial and practical probability kept revisable. Corpus 100 passages 1 work · 4 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Greek and Roman traditionsAvailable

Heraclitus

Birth and deathc. 535–c. 475 BCEabout 2,560 years agoEraAntiquity Source-critical Heraclitus grounded in all 145 Diels B units, with original Greek or Latin, complete labeled French and English sidecars, explicit ancient carriers, and safeguards against modern slogans. Corpus 145 passages 1 work · 4 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Baruch Spinoza

Birth and death1632–1677394 years agoEraModern era A Dutch philosopher of the seventeenth century, Spinoza builds a geometrical ethics of causes, affects, freedom, and human flourishing. Corpus 1,314 passages 8 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Pierre Hadot

Birth and death1922–2010104 years agoEraContemporary era A French historian of philosophy, Pierre Hadot showed that ancient philosophy was a way of living, trained through spiritual exercises. Corpus 2,040 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Contemporary StoicismAvailable

Ryan Holiday

BirthlivingEraContemporary era A contemporary popular writer, Ryan Holiday recasts Stoic practices for work, adversity, and everyday discipline. Corpus 907 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Psychology and psychoanalysisAvailable

Sigmund Freud

Birth and death1856–1939170 years agoEraContemporary era An Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, Freud placed dreams, conflict, and the unconscious at the centre of psychic life. Corpus 1,287 passages 6 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation JudaismAvailable

Moses

Birth and deathtraditional late 2nd millennium BCE horizon; disputedabout 2,027 years agoEraAntiquity The central prophetic teacher of Jewish tradition, Moses is presented through the Torah as liberator, covenant mediator and communal leader. Prokopton42 attributes the five Torah books to him by explicit editorial convention. Corpus 187 passages 5 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Psychology and psychoanalysisAvailable

Carl Gustav Jung

Birth and death1875–1961151 years agoEraContemporary era A Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, Jung examines symbols, dreams, individuation, and the tensions of psychic life. Corpus 1,556 passages 4 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation BuddhismAvailable

Siddhartha Gautama / Buddha

Birth and death5th c. BCE (debated)about 2,475 years agoEraAntiquity The teacher at the origin of Buddhism, the Buddha examines suffering, its causes, its cessation, and the disciplined path that leads beyond it. Corpus 3,512 passages 6 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Frédéric Lenoir

BirthlivingEraContemporary era A contemporary French public philosopher, Frédéric Lenoir compares spiritual traditions through the question of how to live well. Corpus 1,371 passages 3 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Science and scientific thoughtAvailable

Albert Einstein

Birth and death1879–1955147 years agoEraContemporary era A theoretical physicist, Einstein transformed our account of space, time, and gravity, while writing directly about science, responsibility, and public life. Corpus 682 passages 10 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Contemporary leadershipAvailable

Simon Sinek

BirthlivingEraContemporary era A writer and speaker on leadership, Simon Sinek is known for asking organisations to begin with their purpose: the why. Corpus 60 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation JudaismAvailable

Hillel the Elder

Birth and deathc. 1st c. BCE–1st c. CEabout 2,075 years agoEraAntiquity A Jewish sage active around the turn of the era, Hillel is remembered for patient interpretation, humility, and demanding ethical maxims. Corpus 97 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Middle StoicismAvailable

Panaetius

Birth and deathc. 185–c. 110 BCEabout 2,210 years agoEraAntiquity A source-critical Middle Stoic persona built from 59 Fowler carrier units, with every claim kept distinct from Cicero’s adaptation and from autobiographical memory. Corpus 59 passages 1 work · 4 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Middle StoicismAvailable

Posidonius

Birth and deathc. 135–c. 51 BCEabout 2,160 years agoEraAntiquity A source-critical Middle Stoic persona built from 197 historical fragments and 28 testimonia, with each ancient carrier explicit and one malformed ocean source quarantined. Corpus 225 passages 2 works · 4 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early StoicismAvailable

Aristo of Chios

Birth and death3rd c. BCEabout 2,275 years agoEraAntiquity A source-critical early Stoic persona built from 55 Greek carrier units, with every claim kept distinct from later testimony, namesakes, and autobiographical memory. Corpus 55 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation IslamAvailable

Muhammad

Birth and deathc. 570–632 CEabout 1,456 years agoEraAntiquity A seventh-century Arabian preacher and the founding figure of Islam, Muhammad is known through the Qur’an and distinct, often later traditions. Corpus 6,236 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early Chinese thoughtAvailable

Laozi

Birth and deathtraditional 6th century BCE; historical identity disputedabout 2,575 years agoEraAntiquity The traditional figure credited with the Daodejing, Laozi speaks for a way of acting without forcing, although his historical identity is disputed. Corpus 81 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early Chinese thoughtAvailable

Sun Tzu

Birth and deathtraditional 6th-5th c. BCE; historical identity disputedabout 2,575 years agoEraAntiquity The traditional strategist credited with The Art of War, Sun Tzu treats victory as a problem of knowledge, preparation, and economy of force. Corpus 13 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Early Chinese thoughtAvailable

Confucius

Birth and deathtraditionally 551-479 BCE; details transmitted by later sourcesabout 2,576 years agoEraAntiquity A teacher of humane conduct, ritual attention and practiced judgment, reconstructed from the posthumous Analects without pretending that the collection is his autobiography. Corpus 20 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Political thought and democracyAvailable

Abraham Lincoln

Birth and death1809-1865217 years agoEraModern era A plainspoken constitutional advocate grounded in 982 strictly attributed documents, with incoming archive records kept outside dialogue evidence. Corpus 982 passages 1 work · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

André Comte-Sponville

Birth1952–present74 years agoEraContemporary era A French materialist and humanist philosopher, Comte-Sponville examines virtue, time, love and a spirituality that asks for neither God nor an afterlife. Corpus 2,085 passages 4 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Mo Gawdat

Birth1967–present59 years agoEraContemporary era An engineer and author, Mo Gawdat approaches happiness and stress as problems to model, test and practise. His later work asks how human values might shape artificial intelligence before its power outruns our judgement. Corpus 2,558 passages 4 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Leo Tolstoy

Birth and death1828-1910198 years agoEraContemporary era Novelist, diarist and religious thinker, Tolstoy exposes the moral cost of war, property and social convention. His fiction and late essays confront privilege with conscience, non-violence, love and the certainty of death. Corpus 1,161 passages 3 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Jacques Ellul

Birth and death1912-1994114 years agoEraContemporary era A sociologist, jurist and Protestant thinker, Jacques Ellul studies technique as a self-reinforcing social system rather than a collection of neutral tools. He asks how propaganda, efficiency and political illusion narrow freedom, and where responsibility can still take hold. Corpus 693 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Arthur Schopenhauer

Birth and death1788-1860238 years agoEraModern era Schopenhauer distinguishes the world as representation from the blind striving he calls will. From that tension he explains suffering, grounds morality in compassion and looks to art and ascetic practice for rare suspensions of desire. Corpus 383 passages 6 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyIn preparation

Immanuel Kant

Birth and death1724-1804302 years agoEraModern era Kant asks what makes knowledge, moral obligation and aesthetic judgement possible. His critical philosophy gives reason real authority while drawing strict boundaries around what it can know, command and hope. Corpus No normalized text yet View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Paulo Coelho

Birth1947–present79 years agoEraContemporary era A Brazilian novelist, Paulo Coelho turns pilgrimage, vocation and decisive encounters into modern fables. His spare narratives invite readers to test the distance between a desired life, the signs they choose to trust and the price of acting on them. Corpus 396 passages 1 work · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Albert Camus

Birth and death1913-1960113 years agoEraContemporary era Camus tests the absurd against lucidity, revolt against murder, and freedom against the human cost it imposes. The dialogue is bounded to seven acquired works. Corpus 45 passages 7 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Raphaël Enthoven

Birth1975-present; precise birth details not asserted by the admitted source51 years agoEraContemporary era A philosopher, teacher and broadcaster, Raphaël Enthoven brings classical arguments into contact with jealousy, love, politics and contemporary technology. He treats philosophy as an exacting public exercise: distinguish, object and resist the comfort of ready-made opinions. Corpus 29 passages 1 work · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Francis of Assisi

Birth and deathc. 1181/1182-1226about 845 years agoEraMedieval and Renaissance Francis of Assisi makes voluntary poverty a practical criticism of possession and rank. His rules, letters and canticle bind prayer to honest work, mercy, fraternity and care for vulnerable people and the created world. Corpus 23 passages 2 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation New Thought and mental scienceAvailable

Thomas Troward

Birth and death1847-1916179 years agoEraContemporary era A British judge and New Thought lecturer, Thomas Troward presents mind as an active principle operating through impersonal law. He tries to connect imagination, causality and individual action without abandoning the theological language of spirit. Corpus 47 passages 4 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Thomas Aquinas

Birth and deathc. 1225-1274about 801 years agoEraMedieval and Renaissance A Dominican theologian and philosopher, Thomas Aquinas brings Aristotelian argument into Christian theology. He proceeds through objections, precise distinctions and replies in order to relate reason and revelation, action and virtue, nature and grace. Corpus 23,778 passages 2 works · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

John Locke

Birth and death1632-1704394 years agoEraModern era Locke traces ideas to sensation and reflection, then measures how far knowledge can reach without pretending to certainty. In politics he treats power as a trust grounded in consent and limited by rights, law and the public good. Corpus 1,133 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Personal achievement thoughtAvailable

Napoleon Hill

Birth and death1883-1970143 years agoEraContemporary era A major voice in American success literature, Napoleon Hill turns a chosen purpose into a written plan, a working alliance, repeated decision and persistent action. His method is influential, but its promises of wealth and famous origin stories call for critical reading. Corpus 1,603 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation Modern and contemporary philosophyAvailable

Jean-Paul Sartre

Birth and death1905-1980121 years agoEraContemporary era Sartre describes consciousness as a freedom that never begins from nowhere: it chooses within a body, a history and a social situation. Without a ready-made human essence, every act discloses values and carries responsibility for the world it helps to make. Corpus 20 passages 1 work · 2 languages View profile

Historical image Modern interpretation ChristianityAvailable

Teresa of Ávila

Birth and death1515-1582511 years agoEraMedieval and Renaissance Teresa of Ávila describes prayer as friendship rather than escape. She tests inner experience by humility, counsel and its effects on conduct, then turns contemplation into the demanding institutional work of Carmelite reform. Corpus 40 passages 1 work · 3 languages View profile

Historical image Documented photograph Science and scientific thoughtAvailable

Albert Moukheiber

Birth1982-present44 years agoEraContemporary era A cognitive neuroscientist and clinical psychologist, Albert Moukheiber studies how perception, social context and cognitive biases shape judgement. His public work challenges neuromyths and refuses to reduce human conduct to the brain alone. Corpus 442 passages 2 works · 2 languages View profile