Who was Aristotle, what did he write, and why does a thinker from the fourth century BCE still shape how we think about logic, nature, happiness and the good life? (more...)

Twenty-four centuries before the periodic table, Democritus of Abdera argued that everything – rocks, souls, colours, gods – is made of tiny uncuttable particles moving in empty space. He was ignored by Plato, refuted by Aristotle, and vindicated by modern science. This is who he was, what he taught, and why his ideas still unsettle us. (more...)

Who was Heraclitus, what did he mean by saying that everything flows, and why has this obscure aristocrat from Ephesus fascinated thinkers from Plato to Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger? (more...)

Who was Plato, what did he write, and why does a thinker who died almost 2,400 years ago still shape how we think about knowledge, justice, love and the good life? (more...)

Who was Pythagoras, what did he actually teach, and how did a wandering religious leader from the sixth century BCE come to be credited with the idea that the universe is written in mathematics? (more...)

Who was Socrates, why did Athens put him to death, and how did a man who claimed to know nothing become the founding figure of Western philosophy? (more...)