Branches

The main fields of philosophy. Each philosopher is listed under one to three branches in which the reference works cited on their page describe significant work, most important first.

• Metaphysics181 philosophers · 9 traditionsWhat there is and what it is like at the most general level: being and existence, substance, causation, time, change, and whether reality is one or many.

  

  

  

  Laozi, The Buddha, Plato and 178 more
• Epistemology75 philosophers · 8 traditionsKnowledge and how we come by it: perception, reasoning and testimony as sources of knowledge, what justifies a belief, and whether scepticism can be answered.

  

  

  

  Zhuangzi, Nāgārjuna, Augustine and 72 more
• Logic38 philosophers · 8 traditionsThe study of good reasoning: which inferences are valid and why, the forms of argument, and the methods of debate and proof.

  

  

  

  Aristotle, Wonhyo, Avicenna and 35 more
• Ethics138 philosophers · 9 traditionsHow to live and how to act: the good life, virtue, duty, happiness, and what makes actions right or wrong.

  

  

  

  Laozi, Confucius, Socrates and 135 more
• Political philosophy105 philosophers · 7 traditionsHow people should live together: the justification of rule and law, justice, rights and liberty, and the critique of domination and oppression.

  

  

  

  Laozi, Confucius, Plato and 102 more
• Aesthetics26 philosophers · 5 traditionsBeauty and art: what makes something beautiful, what art is for, and how we judge and experience it.

  

  

  

  Motoori Norinaga, Friedrich Nietzsche, W. E. B. Du Bois and 23 more
• Philosophy of mind37 philosophers · 8 traditionsThe mind, the soul and the self: consciousness, how mind relates to body, perception and thought, and what a person is.

  

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  The Buddha, Patañjali, Śaṅkara and 34 more
• Philosophy of language41 philosophers · 7 traditionsMeaning, reference and truth: how words and sentences mean what they do, and how language shapes thought.

  

  

  

  Zhuangzi, Kūkai, Sakya Paṇḍita and 38 more
• Philosophy of religion117 philosophers · 8 traditionsGod and the divine, faith and reason, revelation, the problem of evil, and the path to liberation or salvation.

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  Patañjali, Augustine, Wonhyo and 114 more
• Philosophy of science21 philosophers · 5 traditionsThe nature of science and mathematics: method, explanation, evidence and how theories change, and, before the sciences split from philosophy, the inquiry into nature itself.

  

  

  

  Thales, Anaximander, Anaxagoras and 18 more