The Philosophy 100
A working map of who has shaped how we think — from anywhere, from anytime.
100 philosophers, each on their own Wikipedia page, each placed on three different 2×2 maps. Pick the lens that suits your question — what is real, how should we live, or how do thinkers themselves work — and the same 100 names re-arrange themselves into a new picture.
Map A — The Knowledge × Reality Compass
Where does knowledge come from? · What is reality made of?
The classic philosophy 2×2. The horizontal axis runs from pure reason (truth derived a priori, by thought alone) to experience (truth tested against the senses). The vertical axis runs from idealism (reality is fundamentally mind, idea, spirit) to materialism (reality is fundamentally physical stuff). Plato anchors the top-left, Hume the bottom-right; Kant tries to broker the truce.
(rationalist idealists)
(empirical idealists)
(rationalist materialists)
(empirical materialists)
Map B — The Human Compass
Whose flourishing is the unit of value? · How do we decide what's right?
Ethics and politics, plotted. The horizontal axis runs from individual (the self, autonomy, conscience) to collective (community, polity, class). The vertical axis runs from universal rules (timeless principles, duties, rights) to context and character (situation, virtue, tradition). Kant sits in the top-left as the great universalist of the autonomous self; Confucius in the bottom-right as the master of relational virtue.
(rights, autonomy, duty)
(justice, history, species)
(authenticity, virtue, freedom)
(tradition, ritual, polis)
Map C — The Disposition Compass
Do they construct or dismantle? · Can thinking save us?
Style and temperament. The horizontal axis runs from systematic builder (architects of cathedrals of thought) to critical disruptor (those who tear ideas down). The vertical axis runs from optimist about reason (thinking gets us somewhere) to skeptic (reason is a useful tool, but not a saviour). Aquinas in the top-left, Nietzsche in the bottom-right.
(the architects)
(the gadflies)
(the cautious systematisers)
(the demolitionists)
The Table — All 100 Philosophers
Sortable, searchable, filterable. Click any name to open the full Wikipedia entry.
| # | Philosopher | Years | Era | Region | Known for |
|---|