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Anaximander
"What is infinite is something other than the elements, and from it the elements
arise"
Age b.610BC 2628
Output 4 lost works, 1 fragment remaining 4
Key idea Everything emerges from the ‘apeiron’ - the infinite 3
Influence Had a proto-evolutionary theory of life 70
genius The first metaphysician and the first geographer 6
Fact! He Successfully predicted an earthquake
"Just as our soul, being air, constrains us, so breath and air envelops the
whole cosmos"
AnaXimEnes
Age b.586BC 2604
Output All works lost! 0
Key idea Air is the basis of all things 1
Influence Emphasized scientific, rather than mythical, explanations 55
genius Mainly developed the philosophy of Anaximander 4
Fact! There’s a crater on the moon named after him
Pythagoras
“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the
spacing of the spheres”
Age b.570BC 2588
Output All works lost! 0
Key idea The immortal soul moves to another body after death 2
Influence Strong influence on Plato, dualism, and maths 75
genius A mysterious, mystical and visionary figure in philosophy 7
Fact! When bitten by a deadly snake, he bit it back and killed it
Xenophanes
Age b.570BC 2588
Output None, though many fragments of his work remain 1
Key idea God should not be imagined in human terms 4
Influence His monotheism influenced much Christianity 65
genius Mainly criticized humanized pictures of the Gods in myth 3
“If horses could draw, they would draw horse gods”
Fact! Was once sold into slavery, and lived to the age of 93
Heraclitus
Age b.535BC 2553
Output A lost 3-part treatise and 129 fragments 3
Key idea Everything changes 3
Influence Influenced Plato, the Stoics, and the Church fathers 70
genius Raised questions about change and personal identity 6
“You could not step twice in the same river”
Fact! He smeared himself with shit to try and heal his swelling disease.
Anaxagoras
Age b.510BC 2528
Output Wrote one, quite famous, book, which is now lost 1
Key idea The world is arranged by a cosmic mind (nous) 2
InfluenceWas a good naturalist but
was later rejected by Socrates
65
genius Suggested that the stars are not gods, but hot rocks 6
“thought is the finest and the purest of all things”
Fact! He cut open a sheep’s head to prove it wasn’t a unicorn
Thales
Age b.624BC 2642
Output Two disputed, lost works 2
Key idea Everything is made of water 2
Influence Got the ball rolling! 80
genius The first philosopher and mathematician 8
Fact! He fell into a well during an intense stargazing session
“Know thyself!”
Parmenides
Age b.515BC 2533
Output A single, two-part poem, On Nature 1
Key idea Nothing changes 1
Influence Extremely influential on Plato and later metaphysics 80
genius Pioneered logical argument about being and existence 8
“Nothing comes from nothing”
Fact! He went on a heavenly journey to a mystical goddess (probably...)
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Empedocles
Age b.494BC 2512
Output 5000 lines from 2 poems 2
Key ideaEverything is bound
between two forces, Love and Strife
1
Influence Formulated theory of the 4 elements 75
genius Gave the first theory of light and vision 5
“There is no birth or death; only mixture”
Fact! He thought he was a wizard, And died by jumping into a volcano
Democritus
Age b.460BC 2478
Output 68 known works, though all lost 68
Key ideaAtomism, the view that everything is made from
indivisible particles in a void4
Influence Hated by Plato, but extremely influential 80
genius Known as the ‘father of modern science.’ 7
“By convention sweet is sweet... but in reality, only atoms and void”
Fact! He was known as the ‘laughing philosopher’ and ‘the mocker’
Protagoras
Age b.490BC 2508
Output 12 works, most lost 12
Key ideaRelativism, the idea that truth is in some sense
determined by us3
InfluenceHis relativism and
agnosticism are extremely prominent today
65
genius Primarily a sophist rather than a substantial thinker 4
“Man is the measure of all things”
Fact! He Wrote a whole philosophical treatise about wrestling
Zeno of elea
Age b.495BC 2513
Output No works survive! 0
Key idea Nothing moves or changes, as paradoxes are created 1
InfluencePioneered the art of
dialogue, but not always taken seriously
55
genius His paradoxes are ingenious and fun! 6
“The hypothesis of the many is more ridiculous than that of the one.”
Fact! During being tortured, he deliberately cut out his own tongue
Socrates
Age b.470BC 2488
Output Wrote nothing down 0
Key ideaThe ‘Socratic method’, and
the foundation of moral philosophy
5
Influence Huge. He kickstarted philosophy as we know it 90
genius Was virtuous and wise, but claimed ignorance! 0
“The wise man knows that he knows nothing at all”
Fact! He was famously ugly. He fought fearlessly in the Peloponnesian war
Plato
Age b.427BC 2445
Output 35 dialogues and 13 letters (some disputed) 48
Key ideaThe theory of Forms, and the Kallipolis, a city-state run by
philosophers 3
InfluenceAll western philosophy has
been deemed ‘footnotes’ to him
95
genius Known as the ‘father of western philosophy’. 9
“How could they see anything but shadows if they were never allowed
to move their heads?”
Fact! He was a skilled wrestleR. His name means ‘well built’.
Aristotle
Age b.384BC 2402
Output 30 surviving works, but countless others that are lost 30
Key ideaDeveloped modern logic,
and methods of science and virtue
5
InfluenceHistorically massive, though partially replaced by modern
science90
genius An expert on practically everything 10
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit”
Fact! He forced his pupils to follow him as he walked around teaching
Melissus
Age b.500BC 2518
Output Only one, called On Nature 1
Key idea Reality is infinite, unlimited, and therefore One 2
InfluenceNot as famous as
Parmenides and Zeno, but influenced the atomists
30
genius Gave clear arguments, but largely followed Parmenides 4
“What is nothing, cannot be”
Fact! Was a naval commander in the Peloponnesian war
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Antisthenes
Age b.445BC 2463
Output 60, but only fragments remain 60
Key idea Founded Cynicism; living a simple life outside society 3
Influence Not as well known as his famous student, Diogenes 50
genius Stayed true to the Socratic ideal of a virtuous life 5
“I would rather be mad than feel pleasure”
Fact! He Walked 12 miles every day to hear socrates teach
Diogenes
Age b.412BC 2430
Output Some lost books and letters 18
Key idea Antiestablishment protest and ascetism 2
Influence The original hipster and alternative lifestyle guru 70
genius Not really an intellectual kind of guy 1
“Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself”
Fact! He lived in a barrel like a dog, and trolled Plato’s lectures
Crates
Age b.365BC 2383
Output One book of letters, some plays and some poems 10
Key idea The ideal Cynic state is a simple one free of luxuries 2
Influence Taught Zeno of Citium, who founded Stoicism 45
geniusA less serious Cynic than his
colleagues. He ate only lentils
3
“Hunger stops love; or if not hunger, time”
Fact! He was known for gatecrashing parties in athens
Zeno of Citium
Age b.334BC 2352
Output 25 known lost works 25
Key idea Stoicism: live a peaceful life in accordance with nature 3
InfluenceFounded a major and influential school of
philosophy70
genius Formulated a systematic philosophical system 6
“No evil is honorable, but death is honorable. therefore, death is
no evil”
Fact! He Died of a broken toe
Chrysippus
Age b.279BC 2297
Output Over 700; none have survived! 700
Key idea Soft determinism: there is both fate and free will 4
InfluenceMoulded Stoicism into its
most popular and developed form
70
genius Created a whole system of propositional logic 7
“It is fair to seek one’s own benefit, but never at the expense
of another”
Fact! He Died from laughing after watching a donkey eat some figs
Pyrrho
Age b.360BC 2378
Output Wrote nothing 0
Key ideaSkepticism, focussing on
achieving ataraxia (tranquillity)
3
Influence Important in being the first skeptical philosopher 60
genius A shadowy figure with no known detailed principles 2
“The chief good is the suspension of judgment, from which peace of mind follows like a shadow”
Fact! He travelled to india and persia with alexander the great
Epicurus
Age b.341BC 2359
Output Probably over 300. 3 remain 300
Key idea Happiness is the highest good 4
Influence Massive in Roman times, and in more recent times 85
genius Turned many earlier views into a secular philosophy 8
“He who is not satisfied with little is satisfied with nothing”
Fact! Remained cheerful throughout a painful death on the toilet
Aristippus
Age b.435BC 2453
Output According to some, never wrote anything down 0
Key idea Hedonism: life is about seeking pleasure 2
Influence Influenced future hedonists and skeptics 65
geniusMainly caused an annoyance
and pursued a scandalous life
2
“Even if all laws were abolished, the wise would still live the same life”
Fact! He rejected his illegitimate son, comparing him to snot and vermin
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Posidonius
Age b.135BC 2153
Output Many; 20 are known though lost 20
Key ideaAttempted to use Stoic and Aristotelian ideas to create a
theory of everything3
Influence Known by everyone in his time; less so today 55
genius The greatest polymath and writer of the 1st Century BC 8
“A single day among the learned lasts longer than a lifetime among the
ignorant”
Fact! He studied in detail the throat-cutting customs of the celts
Cicero
Age b.106BC 2124
Output Huge. 72 sets of letters, 88 speeches and 14 books 174
Key idea Humanism, rhetoric, and natural law ideas in ethics 5
Influence Founded western intellectual culture as we know it 95
genius The master of philosophy and language 9
“Almost no-one dances sober, unless he is insane”
Fact! He Tried to upgrade his Dead daughter into a goddess
Lucretius
Age b.99BC 2117
Output One philosophical poem, On the Nature of Things 1
Key ideaThe world is guided by
chance, not divine intervention
4
Influence Wrote eloquently and timelessly on life and death 70
genius Introduced the Romans to Epicurus and atomism 5
“Life is one long struggle in the daRk”
Fact! He was driven insane by a love potion
Seneca
Age b.4BC 2022
Output Essays,letters, plays and a comedy 146
Key idea Developed Stoicism: everything is for the best 3
Influence One of the most popular Roman philosophers 65
genius A great writer, if not the most original thinker 6
“He who travels everywhere is nowhere; he has many
acquaintances but no friends”
Fact! He slit his wrists and died in the bath, on the orders of emperor nero
Epictetus
Age b.55CE 1963
Output 8 discourses, 4 preserved 8
Key idea Philosophy is a way of life in a pre-determined universe 3
Influence One of the most influential Stoics 70
genius Devised a straightforward philosophy of happiness 5
“First say to yourself what you would be; then, do what you have to
do”
Fact! He was a slave who had emperors for friends
Marcus Aurelius
Age b.121CE 1897
Output His Meditations is a major work 1
Key ideaReason allows us to live in
harmony with the logos, the cosmic order
4
Influence He is inspirational even today 80
genius A philosopher who ruled the Roman Empire with principle 6
“Don’t think that what is hard to master is impossible; if something is
possible, it is within your grasp”
Fact! He was a Philosopher king who was deified straight after death
Plotinus
Age b.204CE 1814
Output His collected writings are the ‘Six Enneads’ 6
Key idea Neoplatonism: all reality can be derived from ‘the One’ 2
InfluenceHe inspired much of Islamic,
Christian and Jewish philosophy
80
genius A mystical heavyweight who resurrected Plato 8
“It is by participation in a species that we call every sensible object
‘beautiful’”
Fact! He tried and failed to build a plato-inspired philosopher city
CarneAdes
Age b.214BC 2232
Output Left no writings 0
Key idea Academic skepticism: all knowledge is impossible 0
Influence Upset the Romans as being too radical 45
genius Advocated the purest form of skepticism 5
“Every ‘truth’ is persuasiveness with a hint of relativity, namely,
probability”
Fact! He Was so obsessed with studying that he never cut his hair or nails
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