Through time
Timeline
A map of the philosophical traditions that frame how Res sees the world — running from the first thinkers in Miletus to the present day, where Res takes its place at the far end of the line.
The lineage in time
Scroll horizontally · 63 thinkers across 9 traditions
Antiquity
700 BC – 500
Medieval
500 – 1500
Early Modern
1500 – 1800
Modern
1800 – 2030
Pre-Socratic
6 thinkers
Thales of Miletus
c. 624 – c. 546 BC
Thales of Miletus
Milesian · c. 624 – c. 546 BC
The first Greek philosopher. Water is the principle of all things.
Anaximander
c. 610 – c. 546 BC
Anaximander
Milesian · c. 610 – c. 546 BC
Pupil of Thales. The boundless is the source from which all things come.
Pythagoras
c. 570 – c. 495 BC
Pythagoras
Pythagoreanism · c. 570 – c. 495 BC
Number is the underlying form of reality; the cosmos is harmony.
Heraclitus
c. 535 – c. 475 BC
Heraclitus
Ephesian · c. 535 – c. 475 BC
All things change. The world is fire. Opposites are one.
Parmenides
c. 515 – c. 450 BC
Parmenides
Eleatic · c. 515 – c. 450 BC
Being is one and unchanging; change is illusion.
Democritus
c. 460 – c. 370 BC
Democritus
Atomism · c. 460 – c. 370 BC
All reality is atoms and the void, moving by necessity.
Classical Greek
3 thinkers
Socrates
c. 470 – 399 BC
Socrates
Socratic · c. 470 – 399 BC
Asked questions until belief came apart. The unexamined life is not worth living.
Plato
c. 428 – c. 348 BC
Plato
Platonism · c. 428 – c. 348 BC
The world we see is a shadow of an order we can only reason toward.
Aristotle
384 – 322 BC
Aristotle
Peripatetic · 384 – 322 BC
Systematised ethics, logic, politics, and the natural world.
Hellenistic
5 thinkers
Diogenes of Sinope
c. 412 – c. 323 BC
Diogenes of Sinope
Cynicism · c. 412 – c. 323 BC
Lived in a barrel and embarrassed the powerful. Virtue is enough.
Pyrrho
c. 360 – c. 270 BC
Pyrrho
Skepticism · c. 360 – c. 270 BC
Founder of Greek scepticism. Suspend judgement; tranquillity follows.
Epicurus
341 – 270 BC
Epicurus
Epicureanism · 341 – 270 BC
Founder of the Garden. The good life is freedom from pain and disturbance.
Zeno of Citium
c. 334 – c. 262 BC
Zeno of Citium
Stoicism · c. 334 – c. 262 BC
Founder of Stoicism. Virtue is the only good; live in agreement with nature.
Chrysippus
c. 279 – c. 206 BC
Chrysippus
Stoicism · c. 279 – c. 206 BC
Second founder of Stoicism. Without him, there would be no Stoa.
Roman & Late Antique
5 thinkers
Cicero
106 – 43 BC
Cicero
Academic Skepticism · 106 – 43 BC
Roman statesman whose dialogues carried Greek philosophy into Latin.
Seneca
c. 4 – 65
Seneca
Stoicism · c. 4 – 65
Statesman and Stoic whose letters fuse moral philosophy with worldly experience.
Epictetus
c. 50 – c. 135
Epictetus
Stoicism · c. 50 – c. 135
Former slave whose Discourses turned Stoic ethics into practical instruction.
Marcus Aurelius
121 – 180
Marcus Aurelius
Stoicism · 121 – 180
Philosopher-emperor of Rome. The Meditations is his private journal of self-discipline.
Plotinus
c. 204 – 270
Plotinus
Neoplatonism · c. 204 – 270
All reality flows from the One. The soul ascends by turning inward.
Eastern
9 thinkers
Laozi
c. 571 – c. 471 BC
Laozi
Taoism · c. 571 – c. 471 BC
Traditional author of the Tao Te Ching. Act in accordance with the way.
Siddhārtha Gautama
c. 563 – c. 483 BC
Siddhārtha Gautama
Buddhism · c. 563 – c. 483 BC
Suffering arises from craving. The eightfold path is the way out.
Confucius
551 – 479 BC
Confucius
Confucianism · 551 – 479 BC
Cultivate ritual, reverence, and humaneness; the family is the seed of order.
Mencius
c. 372 – c. 289 BC
Mencius
Confucianism · c. 372 – c. 289 BC
Human nature is good by inclination; cultivate the sprouts of virtue.
Zhuangzi
c. 369 – c. 286 BC
Zhuangzi
Taoism · c. 369 – c. 286 BC
Parables and paradox; the sage flows with transformation.
Nāgārjuna
c. 150 – c. 250
Nāgārjuna
Madhyamaka Buddhism · c. 150 – c. 250
All phenomena are empty of inherent existence; the middle way between extremes.
Adi Shankara
c. 700 – c. 750
Adi Shankara
Advaita Vedānta · c. 700 – c. 750
Non-dualism: the self and the absolute are one; the rest is appearance.
Zhu Xi
1130 – 1200
Zhu Xi
Neo-Confucianism · 1130 – 1200
Synthesised classical Confucianism with metaphysical principle (li).
Dōgen
1200 – 1253
Dōgen
Zen Buddhism · 1200 – 1253
Founder of Sōtō Zen. To study the self is to forget the self.
Scholastic & Medieval
7 thinkers
Augustine of Hippo
354 – 430
Augustine of Hippo
Patristic · 354 – 430
Confessions and City of God. Time, memory, and grace as the inward turn.
Boethius
c. 477 – 524
Boethius
Late Antiquity · c. 477 – 524
The Consolation of Philosophy, written in prison awaiting execution.
Al-Fārābī
c. 872 – 950
Al-Fārābī
Islamic Philosophy · c. 872 – 950
Second Teacher after Aristotle. Carried Greek philosophy into the Islamic world.
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā)
c. 980 – 1037
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā)
Islamic Philosophy · c. 980 – 1037
The floating man and the distinction between essence and existence.
Averroes (Ibn Rushd)
1126 – 1198
Averroes (Ibn Rushd)
Islamic Philosophy · 1126 – 1198
The great commentator on Aristotle. Reason and revelation can both speak truth.
Maimonides
1138 – 1204
Maimonides
Jewish Philosophy · 1138 – 1204
The Guide for the Perplexed. Reconciles Torah and Aristotle.
Thomas Aquinas
1225 – 1274
Thomas Aquinas
Scholasticism · 1225 – 1274
The Summa Theologiae. Faith and reason as two paths to one truth.
Early Modern
8 thinkers
Erasmus
1466 – 1536
Erasmus
Humanism · 1466 – 1536
Christian humanist who edited the Greek New Testament and skewered folly.
Machiavelli
1469 – 1527
Machiavelli
Political Philosophy · 1469 – 1527
The Prince: politics as it is, not as it ought to be.
Montaigne
1533 – 1592
Montaigne
Renaissance Humanism · 1533 – 1592
Invented the essay. The self as the subject worth examining.
Francis Bacon
1561 – 1626
Francis Bacon
Empiricism · 1561 – 1626
Knowledge is power; the new method is induction from observation.
Thomas Hobbes
1588 – 1679
Thomas Hobbes
Political Philosophy · 1588 – 1679
Leviathan: without a sovereign, life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, short.
René Descartes
1596 – 1650
René Descartes
Rationalism · 1596 – 1650
I think, therefore I am. Doubt everything until the indubitable remains.
Baruch Spinoza
1632 – 1677
Baruch Spinoza
Rationalism · 1632 – 1677
The Ethics in geometric form. God and Nature are one substance.
John Locke
1632 – 1704
John Locke
Empiricism · 1632 – 1704
The mind is a blank slate; knowledge comes from experience.
Enlightenment & Idealism
6 thinkers
Gottfried Leibniz
1646 – 1716
Gottfried Leibniz
Rationalism · 1646 – 1716
Monads, calculus, and the best of all possible worlds.
David Hume
1711 – 1776
David Hume
Empiricism · 1711 – 1776
Scepticism as a tool. Causation is habit; the self is a bundle.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1712 – 1778
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Enlightenment · 1712 – 1778
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. The social contract.
Immanuel Kant
1724 – 1804
Immanuel Kant
Critical Philosophy · 1724 – 1804
The three Critiques. Act only on a maxim you could will to be universal law.
G. W. F. Hegel
1770 – 1831
G. W. F. Hegel
German Idealism · 1770 – 1831
History is the unfolding of spirit toward freedom, through dialectic.
Arthur Schopenhauer
1788 – 1860
Arthur Schopenhauer
Pessimism · 1788 – 1860
The world as will and representation. Striving begets suffering.
Modern
14 thinkers
John Stuart Mill
1806 – 1873
John Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism · 1806 – 1873
The greatest happiness principle. On Liberty as a defence of the individual.
Søren Kierkegaard
1813 – 1855
Søren Kierkegaard
Existentialism · 1813 – 1855
On dread, despair, and the leap of faith. The first existentialist.
Karl Marx
1818 – 1883
Karl Marx
Marxism · 1818 – 1883
Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.
William James
1842 – 1910
William James
Pragmatism · 1842 – 1910
Truth is what works. Belief and experience as continuous streams.
Friedrich Nietzsche
1844 – 1900
Friedrich Nietzsche
Existentialism · 1844 – 1900
An attack on inherited morality, in favour of life-affirming self-creation.
Edmund Husserl
1859 – 1938
Edmund Husserl
Phenomenology · 1859 – 1938
Back to the things themselves. The structure of conscious experience.
Bertrand Russell
1872 – 1970
Bertrand Russell
Analytic · 1872 – 1970
Logician, essayist, pacifist. Carried rigour into nearly every subject.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
1889 – 1951
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Analytic · 1889 – 1951
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Then changed his mind.
Martin Heidegger
1889 – 1976
Martin Heidegger
Phenomenology · 1889 – 1976
Being and Time. We are beings whose being is a question for us.
Jean-Paul Sartre
1905 – 1980
Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism · 1905 – 1980
Existence precedes essence. We are condemned to be free.
Hannah Arendt
1906 – 1975
Hannah Arendt
Political Philosophy · 1906 – 1975
On totalitarianism, the human condition, and the banality of evil.
Simone de Beauvoir
1908 – 1986
Simone de Beauvoir
Existentialism · 1908 – 1986
One is not born, but becomes, a woman. Freedom is the ethical project.
Albert Camus
1913 – 1960
Albert Camus
Absurdism · 1913 – 1960
We must imagine Sisyphus happy. Revolt against the absurd.
Michel Foucault
1926 – 1984
Michel Foucault
Post-structuralism · 1926 – 1984
Power produces knowledge. Histories of discipline, sexuality, and the self.
Res · 2026
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“What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.”
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