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Philosophical map

126 philosophers across the Western, Eastern, and Islamic & Jewish traditions, placed by birth year (horizontal) and influence (vertical), linked by 201 known lines of influence.

405060708090100600 BCE400 BCE200 BCE1200400600800100012001400160018002000Birth year →Influence →Thales (624 BCE)ThalesLaozi (571 BCE)LaoziPythagoras (570 BCE)PythagorasBuddha (563 BCE)BuddhaConfucius (551 BCE)ConfuciusHeraclitus (535 BCE)HeraclitusParmenides (515 BCE)ParmenidesZeno of Elea (490 BCE)Zeno of EleaSocrates (470 BCE)SocratesMozi (470 BCE)Democritus (460 BCE)Plato (428 BCE)PlatoDiogenes (412 BCE)DiogenesAristotle (384 BCE)Mencius (372 BCE)Zhuangzi (369 BCE)ZhuangziEpicurus (341 BCE)EpicurusZeno of Citium (334 BCE)Zeno of CitiumChrysippus (279 BCE)ChrysippusCicero (106 BCE)CiceroLucretius (99 BCE)LucretiusSeneca (4 BCE)SenecaEpictetus (50 CE)EpictetusMarcus Aurelius (121 CE)Marcus AureliusNagarjuna (150 CE)NagarjunaPlotinus (204 CE)Augustine (354 CE)AugustineBoethius (477 CE)BoethiusAdi Shankara (700 CE)Adi ShankaraAl-Kindi (801 CE)Al-KindiAl-Farabi (872 CE)Al-FarabiAvicenna (980 CE)AvicennaAnselm (1033 CE)AnselmAl-Ghazali (1058 CE)Al-GhazaliAverroes (1126 CE)AverroesZhu Xi (1130 CE)Zhu XiMaimonides (1138 CE)MaimonidesThomas Aquinas (1225 CE)Thomas AquinasDuns Scotus (1266 CE)Duns ScotusWilliam of Ockham (1287 CE)William of OckhamErasmus (1466 CE)ErasmusMachiavelli (1469 CE)MachiavelliWang Yangming (1472 CE)Wang YangmingMontaigne (1533 CE)MontaigneGiordano Bruno (1548 CE)Giordano BrunoFrancis Bacon (1561 CE)Hobbes (1588 CE)HobbesDescartes (1596 CE)DescartesPascal (1623 CE)PascalSpinoza (1632 CE)SpinozaLocke (1632 CE)LockeLeibniz (1646 CE)Vico (1668 CE)VicoBerkeley (1685 CE)BerkeleyMontesquieu (1689 CE)Voltaire (1694 CE)VoltaireHume (1711 CE)HumeRousseau (1712 CE)Diderot (1713 CE)DiderotAdam Smith (1723 CE)Adam SmithKant (1724 CE)KantBurke (1729 CE)BurkeBentham (1748 CE)BenthamWollstonecraft (1759 CE)Fichte (1762 CE)FichteHegel (1770 CE)Schelling (1775 CE)Schopenhauer (1788 CE)Comte (1798 CE)ComteEmerson (1803 CE)John Stuart Mill (1806 CE)John Stuart MillKierkegaard (1813 CE)Thoreau (1817 CE)Marx (1818 CE)MarxEngels (1820 CE)Spencer (1820 CE)SpencerPeirce (1839 CE)PeirceWilliam James (1842 CE)William JamesNietzsche (1844 CE)Frege (1848 CE)FregeFreud (1856 CE)Husserl (1859 CE)Bergson (1859 CE)BergsonDewey (1859 CE)DeweyWhitehead (1861 CE)Russell (1872 CE)G. E. Moore (1873 CE)G. E. MooreWittgenstein (1889 CE)Heidegger (1889 CE)HeideggerCarnap (1891 CE)Gramsci (1891 CE)GramsciWalter Benjamin (1892 CE)Marcuse (1898 CE)Hayek (1899 CE)HayekGadamer (1900 CE)GadamerPopper (1902 CE)PopperAdorno (1903 CE)Sartre (1905 CE)Arendt (1906 CE)ArendtLevinas (1906 CE)Beauvoir (1908 CE)Quine (1908 CE)Merleau-Ponty (1908 CE)Simone Weil (1909 CE)Camus (1913 CE)Rawls (1921 CE)RawlsKuhn (1922 CE)Lyotard (1924 CE)LyotardDeleuze (1925 CE)Foucault (1926 CE)Hilary Putnam (1926 CE)Chomsky (1928 CE)Habermas (1929 CE)Baudrillard (1929 CE)Derrida (1930 CE)Rorty (1931 CE)Searle (1932 CE)Thomas Nagel (1937 CE)Nozick (1938 CE)Kripke (1940 CE)Dennett (1942 CE)Nussbaum (1947 CE)Žižek (1949 CE)Sandel (1953 CE)SandelJudith Butler (1956 CE)Chalmers (1966 CE)

Each point is a philosopher (x = birth year, y = approximate influence, a prominence proxy). Hover a name to trace its connections — arrows point from a thinker to those they shaped; red dashed lines mark critical reactions, grey lines positive influence. Click a point for Wikipedia, and use the legend to filter traditions.