The lineage

Philosophy

A directory of thinkers and traditions whose ideas frame how Res sees the world. Each will, in time, link to a fuller page — sources, primary texts, and what they offer.

Philosophers

12 entries

Marble bust of Thales of MiletusPre-Socratic

Thales of Miletus

c. 624 – c. 546 BC

The first Greek philosopher. Argued that reality has principles we can reason about — the world is more than the gods.

Marble bust of HeraclitusPre-Socratic

Heraclitus

c. 535 – c. 475 BC

Pre-Socratic philosopher of flux. All things change; the world is fire; opposites are one.

Marble bust of DemocritusAtomism

Democritus

c. 460 – c. 370 BC

Atomist who held that all reality is atoms and the void, moving by necessity.

Marble bust of SocratesClassical Greek

Socrates

c. 470 – 399 BC

Asked questions until belief came apart. The unexamined life is not worth living.

Marble bust of PlatoPlatonism

Plato

c. 428 – 348 BC

The world we see is a shadow of an order we can only reason toward.

Marble bust of AristotlePeripatetic

Aristotle

384 – 322 BC

Systematised ethics, logic, politics, and the natural world.

Marble bust of EpicurusEpicureanism

Epicurus

341 – 270 BC

Founder of the Garden. The good life is freedom from pain and disturbance.

Marble bust of Zeno of CitiumStoicism

Zeno of Citium

c. 334 – c. 262 BC

Founder of Stoicism. Taught that virtue is the only good and to live in agreement with nature.

Marble bust of CiceroAcademic Skepticism

Cicero

106 – 43 BC

Roman statesman and orator whose dialogues carried Greek philosophy into Latin.

Marble bust of SenecaStoicism

Seneca

c. 4 BC – 65 AD

Roman statesman whose letters fuse moral philosophy with worldly experience.

Marble bust of EpictetusStoicism

Epictetus

c. 50 – 135

Former slave whose Discourses turned Stoic ethics into practical instruction.

Marble bust of Marcus AureliusStoicism

Marcus Aurelius

121 – 180

Philosopher-emperor of Rome. The Meditations is his private journal of self-discipline.

Traditions

Pre-Socratic
The earliest Greek thinkers. The world has underlying principles, accessible to reason.
Stoicism
Virtue is the only good. The rest is up to fortune.
Platonism
There is an order behind appearances, accessible only to thought.
Aristotelianism
The good life is activity in accordance with virtue.
Existentialism
Existence precedes essence. We are what we choose.
Rationalism
Reason can derive truth from first principles.
Taoism
Act in accordance with the way; effort against it is wasted.