The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Two and a half thousand years of argument.

Scroll down through time to see who was thinking what, and when, across the world's philosophical traditions. Select anyone to read about their ideas.

The Greek inheritance

Indian

East Asia

  1. Thales c. 624 – c. 546 BCE
  2. Anaximander c. 610 – c. 546 BCE
  3. Pythagoras c. 570 – c. 490 BCE
  4. Xenophanes fl. 540–480 BCE
  5. Heraclitus fl. 510–490 BCE
  6. Anaxagoras c. 500 – 428 BCE
  7. Parmenides fl. 500–450 BCE
  8. Protagoras c. 490 – c. 420 BCE
  9. Empedocles fl. 470–430 BCE
  10. Socrates c. 470 – 399 BCE
  11. Zeno of Elea fl. 465–440 BCE
  12. Democritus c. 460 – after 400 BCE
  13. Plato c. 429 – 347 BCE
  14. Diogenes of Sinope c. 404 – c. 323 BCE
  15. Aristotle 384–322 BCE
  16. Epicurus 341–270 BCE
  17. Chrysippus c. 280 – c. 207 BCE
  18. Cicero 106–43 BCE
  19. Lucretius c. 95 – c. 55 BCE
  20. Seneca c. 1 BCE – 65 CE
  21. Epictetus c. 55 – c. 135 CE
  22. Sextus Empiricus fl. 100–250 CE
  23. Marcus Aurelius 121–180 CE
  24. Plotinus c. 204 – 270 CE
  25. Augustine 354–430 CE
  26. Proclus 412–485 CE
  27. Boethius c. 476 – c. 526 CE
  28. al-Kindi c. 800 – c. 870 CE
  29. John Scottus Eriugena c. 800 – c. 877 CE
  30. Abu Bakr al-Razi 865–925 CE
  31. al-Farabi c. 870 – c. 950 CE
  32. Saadia Gaon 882–942 CE
  33. Avicenna c. 970 – 1037 CE
  34. Solomon ibn Gabirol c. 1021 – c. 1057
  35. Anselm of Canterbury 1033–1109
  36. al-Ghazali c. 1056 – 1111
  37. Judah Halevi c. 1075 – 1141
  38. Peter Abelard c. 1079 – 1142
  39. Avempace before 1085 – 1139
  40. Averroes 1126–1198
  41. Maimonides 1138–1204
  42. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi 1149–1210
  43. Suhrawardi 1154–1191
  44. Ibn Arabi 1165–1240
  45. Bonaventure c. 1221 – 1274
  46. Thomas Aquinas c. 1225 – 1274
  47. Meister Eckhart c. 1260 – c. 1328
  48. Ibn Taymiyya 1263–1328
  49. John Duns Scotus c. 1265 – 1308
  50. William of Ockham c. 1287 – 1347
  51. Gersonides 1288–1344
  52. Hasdai Crescas c. 1340 – c. 1410
  53. Nicholas of Cusa 1401–1464
  54. Desiderius Erasmus 1469–1536
  55. Niccolò Machiavelli 1469–1527
  56. Michel de Montaigne 1533–1592
  57. Giordano Bruno 1548–1600
  58. Francis Bacon 1561–1626
  59. Mulla Sadra c. 1571 – c. 1636
  60. Thomas Hobbes 1588–1679
  61. René Descartes 1596–1650
  62. Blaise Pascal 1623–1662
  63. Baruch Spinoza 1632–1677
  64. John Locke 1632–1704
  65. Nicolas Malebranche 1638–1715
  66. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646–1716
  67. George Berkeley 1685–1753
  68. Montesquieu 1689–1755
  69. David Hume 1711–1776
  70. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712–1778
  71. Adam Smith 1723–1790
  72. Immanuel Kant 1724–1804
  73. Jeremy Bentham 1748–1832
  74. Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–1797
  75. G. W. F. Hegel 1770–1831
  76. Arthur Schopenhauer 1788–1860
  77. John Stuart Mill 1806–1873
  78. Søren Kierkegaard 1813–1855
  79. Karl Marx 1818–1883
  80. Charles Sanders Peirce 1839–1914
  81. William James 1842–1910
  82. Friedrich Nietzsche 1844–1900
  83. Gottlob Frege 1848–1925
  84. Edmund Husserl 1859–1938
  85. Henri Bergson 1859–1941
  86. John Dewey 1859–1952
  87. Alfred North Whitehead 1861–1947
  88. Bertrand Russell 1872–1970
  89. G. E. Moore 1873–1958
  90. Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889–1951
  91. Martin Heidegger 1889–1976
  92. Rudolf Carnap 1891–1970
  93. Karl Popper 1902–1994
  94. Theodor W. Adorno 1903–1969
  95. Jean-Paul Sartre 1905–1980
  96. Hannah Arendt 1906–1975
  97. Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1908–1961
  98. Simone de Beauvoir 1908–1986
  99. Albert Camus 1913–1960
  100. Elizabeth Anscombe 1919–2001
  101. Iris Murdoch 1919–1999
  102. John Rawls 1921–2002
  103. Thomas Kuhn 1922–1996
  104. Michel Foucault 1926–1984
  105. Jürgen Habermas 1929–2026
  106. Jacques Derrida 1930–2004
  1. The Buddha fl. 465–435 BCE
  2. Nāgārjuna fl. 150–250 CE
  3. Vasubandhu fl. 350–450 CE
  4. Bhartṛhari c. 450 – c. 510 CE
  5. Gauḍapāda fl. 450–550 CE
  6. Dharmakīrti c. 600 – c. 660 CE
  7. Kumārila Bhaṭṭa fl. 640–680 CE
  8. Śāntideva fl. 680–760 CE
  9. Śaṅkara fl. 700–800 CE
  10. Śāntarakṣita c. 725 – c. 788 CE
  11. Rāmānuja c. 1077 – c. 1157
  12. Śrīharṣa fl. 1114–1193
  13. Madhva c. 1238 – c. 1317
  14. Gaṅgeśa fl. 1300–1350
  1. Laozi fl. 600–500 BCE
  2. Confucius c. 551 – c. 479 BCE
  3. Mozi fl. 440–420 BCE
  4. Mencius c. 372 – c. 289 BCE
  5. Zhuangzi fl. 350–300 BCE
  6. Xunzi c. 310 – after 238 BCE
  7. Han Fei fl. 260 – d. 233 BCE
  8. Wang Chong 27 – c. 100 CE
  9. Wang Bi 226–249 CE
  10. Huineng 638–713 CE
  11. Kūkai 774–835 CE
  12. Zhou Dunyi 1017–1073
  13. Zhang Zai 1020–1077
  14. Cheng Yi 1033–1107
  15. Zhu Xi 1130–1200
  16. Hōnen 1133–1212
  17. Wang Yangming 1472–1529
  18. Dai Zhen 1724–1777
  19. Nishida Kitarō 1870–1945
  20. Tanabe Hajime 1885–1962
  21. Watsuji Tetsurō 1889–1960
  22. Nishitani Keiji 1900–1990
From 1400, time is drawn 3× larger
  1. 7th century BCE
  2. Thales c. 624 – c. 546 BCE Western
  3. Anaximander c. 610 – c. 546 BCE Western
  4. 6th century BCE

  5. Western · c. 600 BCE – 529 CE

    Ancient Greek and Roman

    From the first Greek natural philosophers to the closure of the Athenian schools, the era that laid the foundations of Western logic, ethics and metaphysics.

    Read about this period →

  6. Chinese · c. 600 – 221 BCE

    Classical Chinese

    The 'Hundred Schools of Thought' of the late Zhou dynasty, ending with the unification of China under the Qin in 221 BCE.

    Read about this period →
  7. Laozi fl. 600–500 BCE Chinese
  8. Pythagoras c. 570 – c. 490 BCE Western
  9. Confucius c. 551 – c. 479 BCE Chinese
  10. Xenophanes fl. 540–480 BCE Western
  11. Heraclitus fl. 510–490 BCE Western
  12. 5th century BCE
  13. Anaxagoras c. 500 – 428 BCE Western
  14. Parmenides fl. 500–450 BCE Western
  15. Protagoras c. 490 – c. 420 BCE Western
  16. Empedocles fl. 470–430 BCE Western
  17. Socrates c. 470 – 399 BCE Western
  18. The Buddha fl. 465–435 BCE Indian
  19. Zeno of Elea fl. 465–440 BCE Western
  20. Democritus c. 460 – after 400 BCE Western
  21. Mozi fl. 440–420 BCE Chinese
  22. Plato c. 429 – 347 BCE Western
  23. Diogenes of Sinope c. 404 – c. 323 BCE Western
  24. 4th century BCE
  25. Aristotle 384–322 BCE Western
  26. Mencius c. 372 – c. 289 BCE Chinese
  27. Zhuangzi fl. 350–300 BCE Chinese
  28. Epicurus 341–270 BCE Western
  29. Xunzi c. 310 – after 238 BCE Chinese
  30. 3rd century BCE
  31. Chrysippus c. 280 – c. 207 BCE Western
  32. Han Fei fl. 260 – d. 233 BCE Chinese
  33. 2nd century BCE
  34. Cicero 106–43 BCE Western
  35. 1st century BCE
  36. Lucretius c. 95 – c. 55 BCE Western
  37. Seneca c. 1 BCE – 65 CE Western
  38. 1st century CE
  39. Wang Chong 27 – c. 100 CE Chinese
  40. Epictetus c. 55 – c. 135 CE Western
  41. Sextus Empiricus fl. 100–250 CE Western
  42. 2nd century CE
  43. Marcus Aurelius 121–180 CE Western
  44. Nāgārjuna fl. 150–250 CE Indian
  45. 3rd century CE
  46. Plotinus c. 204 – 270 CE Western
  47. Wang Bi 226–249 CE Chinese
  48. 4th century CE
  49. Vasubandhu fl. 350–450 CE Indian
  50. Augustine 354–430 CE Western
  51. 5th century CE
  52. Proclus 412–485 CE Western
  53. Bhartṛhari c. 450 – c. 510 CE Indian
  54. Gauḍapāda fl. 450–550 CE Indian
  55. Boethius c. 476 – c. 526 CE Western
  56. 6th century CE

  57. Western · 529 – c. 1400 CE

    Medieval

    Philosophy in Latin Christendom, shaped by the recovery of Aristotle and the rise of the universities, and culminating in the scholastic syntheses of the thirteenth century.

    Read about this period →
  58. Dharmakīrti c. 600 – c. 660 CE Indian
  59. 7th century CE

  60. Japanese · 604–1185 CE

    Classical Japanese

    From Prince Shōtoku's constitution to the end of aristocratic rule, when Buddhism came to dominate Japanese thought and Kūkai founded Shingon esoteric Buddhism.

    Read about this period →
  61. Huineng 638–713 CE Chinese
  62. Kumārila Bhaṭṭa fl. 640–680 CE Indian
  63. Śāntideva fl. 680–760 CE Indian
  64. Śaṅkara fl. 700–800 CE Indian
  65. 8th century CE
  66. Śāntarakṣita c. 725 – c. 788 CE Indian
  67. Kūkai 774–835 CE Japanese

  68. Arabic and Islamic · c. 800 – c. 1200 CE

    Classical Islamic

    The era of the great falsafa philosophers, who built on Greek philosophy translated into Arabic, from al-Kindi to Averroes.

    Read about this period →
  69. al-Kindi c. 800 – c. 870 CE Arabic and Islamic
  70. John Scottus Eriugena c. 800 – c. 877 CE Western
  71. 9th century CE
  72. Abu Bakr al-Razi 865–925 CE Arabic and Islamic
  73. al-Farabi c. 870 – c. 950 CE Arabic and Islamic
  74. Saadia Gaon 882–942 CE Jewish

  75. Jewish · c. 900 – 1204 CE

    Judaeo-Arabic

    Jewish philosophy in the Islamic world, written mostly in Arabic, from Saadia Gaon in Baghdad to Maimonides in Cairo, in dialogue with kalam theology and Greek philosophy.

    Read about this period →
  76. 10th century CE

  77. Chinese · 960–1644 CE

    Song–Ming

    The Song and Ming dynasties, when Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming renewed Confucianism in dialogue with Buddhism and Daoism.

    Read about this period →
  78. Avicenna c. 970 – 1037 CE Arabic and Islamic
  79. 11th century
  80. Zhou Dunyi 1017–1073 Chinese
  81. Zhang Zai 1020–1077 Chinese
  82. Solomon ibn Gabirol c. 1021 – c. 1057 Jewish
  83. Anselm of Canterbury 1033–1109 Western
  84. Cheng Yi 1033–1107 Chinese
  85. al-Ghazali c. 1056 – 1111 Arabic and Islamic
  86. Judah Halevi c. 1075 – 1141 Jewish
  87. Rāmānuja c. 1077 – c. 1157 Indian
  88. Peter Abelard c. 1079 – 1142 Western
  89. Avempace before 1085 – 1139 Arabic and Islamic
  90. 12th century
  91. Śrīharṣa fl. 1114–1193 Indian
  92. Averroes 1126–1198 Arabic and Islamic
  93. Zhu Xi 1130–1200 Chinese
  94. Hōnen 1133–1212 Japanese
  95. Maimonides 1138–1204 Jewish
  96. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi 1149–1210 Arabic and Islamic
  97. Suhrawardi 1154–1191 Arabic and Islamic
  98. Ibn Arabi 1165–1240 Arabic and Islamic

  99. Japanese · 1185–1600

    Medieval Japanese

    The age of military rule, war and disaster, when new Buddhist movements such as Pure Land, Zen and Nichiren each selected a single practice as the way to liberation.

    Read about this period →

  100. Arabic and Islamic · c. 1200 – present

    Later Islamic

    Philosophy in the Islamic world after the classical period, from the Illuminationist tradition to Mulla Sadra's school in Safavid Iran and beyond.

    Read about this period →
  101. 13th century

  102. Jewish · 1204–1492

    Provence and Spain

    After Maimonides, Jewish philosophy in Hebrew in Christian Provence and Spain, which absorbed Averroes' Aristotle and argued over it, until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.

    Read about this period →
  103. Bonaventure c. 1221 – 1274 Western
  104. Thomas Aquinas c. 1225 – 1274 Western
  105. Madhva c. 1238 – c. 1317 Indian
  106. Meister Eckhart c. 1260 – c. 1328 Western
  107. Ibn Taymiyya 1263–1328 Arabic and Islamic
  108. John Duns Scotus c. 1265 – 1308 Western
  109. William of Ockham c. 1287 – 1347 Western
  110. Gersonides 1288–1344 Jewish
  111. Gaṅgeśa fl. 1300–1350 Indian
  112. 14th century
  113. Hasdai Crescas c. 1340 – c. 1410 Jewish
  114. 15th century
  115. Nicholas of Cusa 1401–1464 Western
  116. Desiderius Erasmus 1469–1536 Western
  117. Niccolò Machiavelli 1469–1527 Western
  118. Wang Yangming 1472–1529 Chinese
  119. 16th century
  120. Michel de Montaigne 1533–1592 Western
  121. Giordano Bruno 1548–1600 Western
  122. Francis Bacon 1561–1626 Western
  123. Mulla Sadra c. 1571 – c. 1636 Arabic and Islamic
  124. Thomas Hobbes 1588–1679 Western
  125. René Descartes 1596–1650 Western

  126. Western · c. 1600 – c. 1800

    Early modern

    The age of the new science, rationalism and empiricism, from Descartes to Kant.

    Read about this period →

  127. Japanese · 1600–1868

    Edo

    The peace of the Tokugawa shogunate, when a new Neo-Confucianism became Japan's leading philosophy, alongside Buddhist and Shintō thought.

    Read about this period →
  128. 17th century
  129. Blaise Pascal 1623–1662 Western
  130. Baruch Spinoza 1632–1677 Western
  131. John Locke 1632–1704 Western
  132. Nicolas Malebranche 1638–1715 Western
  133. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646–1716 Western
  134. George Berkeley 1685–1753 Western
  135. Montesquieu 1689–1755 Western
  136. 18th century
  137. David Hume 1711–1776 Western
  138. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712–1778 Western
  139. Adam Smith 1723–1790 Western
  140. Dai Zhen 1724–1777 Chinese
  141. Immanuel Kant 1724–1804 Western
  142. Jeremy Bentham 1748–1832 Western
  143. Mary Wollstonecraft 1759–1797 Western
  144. G. W. F. Hegel 1770–1831 Western
  145. Arthur Schopenhauer 1788–1860 Western

  146. Western · c. 1800 – c. 1900

    Late modern

    The nineteenth century, from German idealism after Kant to Marx, Mill, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.

    Read about this period →
  147. 19th century
  148. John Stuart Mill 1806–1873 Western
  149. Søren Kierkegaard 1813–1855 Western
  150. Karl Marx 1818–1883 Western
  151. Charles Sanders Peirce 1839–1914 Western
  152. William James 1842–1910 Western
  153. Friedrich Nietzsche 1844–1900 Western
  154. Gottlob Frege 1848–1925 Western
  155. Edmund Husserl 1859–1938 Western
  156. Henri Bergson 1859–1941 Western
  157. John Dewey 1859–1952 Western
  158. Alfred North Whitehead 1861–1947 Western

  159. Japanese · 1868 – present

    Modern Japanese

    From the Meiji Restoration, as Japan took up Western philosophy and Nishida Kitarō and the Kyoto School brought it into dialogue with Buddhist thought.

    Read about this period →
  160. Nishida Kitarō 1870–1945 Japanese
  161. Bertrand Russell 1872–1970 Western
  162. G. E. Moore 1873–1958 Western
  163. Tanabe Hajime 1885–1962 Japanese
  164. Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889–1951 Western
  165. Martin Heidegger 1889–1976 Western
  166. Watsuji Tetsurō 1889–1960 Japanese
  167. Rudolf Carnap 1891–1970 Western

  168. Western · c. 1900 – present

    Contemporary

    Philosophy from 1900 to the present, including the analytic tradition of Russell and Wittgenstein and the phenomenology and existentialism of Heidegger and Beauvoir.

    Read about this period →
  169. Nishitani Keiji 1900–1990 Japanese
  170. 20th century
  171. Karl Popper 1902–1994 Western
  172. Theodor W. Adorno 1903–1969 Western
  173. Jean-Paul Sartre 1905–1980 Western
  174. Hannah Arendt 1906–1975 Western
  175. Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1908–1961 Western
  176. Simone de Beauvoir 1908–1986 Western
  177. Albert Camus 1913–1960 Western
  178. Elizabeth Anscombe 1919–2001 Western
  179. Iris Murdoch 1919–1999 Western
  180. John Rawls 1921–2002 Western
  181. Thomas Kuhn 1922–1996 Western
  182. Michel Foucault 1926–1984 Western
  183. Jürgen Habermas 1929–2026 Western
  184. Jacques Derrida 1930–2004 Western