ANCHORS Edition: This timeline encapsulates the chapter anchors of “30 Philosophers: A New Look at Timeless Ideas.” While many people are discussed in the book, except for Chapter 1, the remaining 30 chapters contains an anchor person for the chapter’s story.

30 Philosophers Timeline: Anchors

King Shuruppak

No images of King Shuruppak exist. The best we can do is reimagine known aspects of Sumerian culture. This is a ziggurat typical of the time: one per each of the 30+ cities.

circa 2600 BCE

The Wise King

Gargi Vachaknavi

Hindu god Ganesha on white wooden table. Candles on background

circa 800 BCE

Laozi

Laozi or Lou Tzu (604-517 BCE). Founder of Daoism, aka Taoism. The life of Laozi is shrouded in mystery, but he is the first philosopher in “30 Philosophers” that attempts to construct a precise biography.

born circa 604 BCE

By tradition, he lived from 604 to 517 BCE.

Confucius

Make Goodness Normal: Confucius taught that a better life begins when respect, duty, kindness, and self-discipline become normal habits. Normalcy is powerful because it turns wisdom into daily behavior.

born 551 BCE

Lived from 551 to 479 BCE, aged 72

Gautama Buddha

Subhrajyoti07, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

born circa 563

Lived from about 563 to 486 BCE

Heraclitus

Impermanence is the idea that things do not stay the same forever. Becoming is the process of changing, growing, and unfolding over time.

born circa 535 BCE

circa 535 to 475 BCE, likely aged about 60 years old

Plato

b. 428 BCE

428 to 347 BCE

Aristotle

Portrait of Aristoteles. Copy of the Imperial era (1st or 2nd century) of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos

b. 384 BCE

384 to 322 BCE

Pyrrho of Elis

b. 360 BCE

360 to 270 BCE

Epicurus

Roman marble copy of a 3rd-century BCE Greek original, likely created before 1st century CE.

b. 341 BCE

341 to 270 BCE

Philo of Alexandria

b. circa 20 BCE

circa 20 BCE to circa 55 CE

Marcus Aurelius

born 121

121 to 180 CE

Badarayana

sand sculpture of Ganesha in Hinduism, the god of wisdom and well-being with the head of an elephant

circa 300 BCE to 200 CE

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine is known as the father of Western religious scholarship. He reconciled the science and philosophy of Aristotle with church beliefs.

born 354

Lived from 354 to 430 CE, aged about 76.

Al-Farabi

born 872

872 to 950

Alhazen

born 965

965 to 1040

Peter Abelard

born 1079

1079 to 1141

Guru Nanak

born 1469

1469 to 1539

Francis Bacon

born 1561

1561 to 1626

Galileo Galilei

Portrait of Galileo at about 74. He included a copy in his 1638 Two New Sciences book.

born 1564.

Lived from 1564 to 1642, aged 77.

Rene Descartes

1596-1649

Roger Williams

Detail of Roger Williams Landing Place monument in Slate Rock Park aka Roger Williams Square, Providence Rhode Island.

born circa 1602

circa 1602 to Mar 1683

Baruch Spinoza

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spinoza_(cropped).jpg

born 1632

1632-1677, aged 44

John Locke

born 1632

1632 to 1704

Voltaire

The transformation of François-Marie Arouet into Voltaire: From a budding scholar in Paris, to a prisoner of ideas in the Bastille, to a celebrated playwright whose words ignited the Enlightenment.

born 1694

1694-1778

David Hume

The Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and historian Hume was a leading exponent of empiricism. The belief that all human knowledge derives solely from experience.

born 1711

Lived from 1711 to 1776.

Immanuel Kant