Atlas of philosophy: figures, movements and problems

Five maps to take in the great ideas of the history of philosophy at a glance: who influenced whom over the centuries, how problems lead from one axis to another, compasses that cross two axes, a constellation that draws thinkers together by affinity, and how our beliefs rest on one another. Once you have answered a few questions, you appear on these maps.

The Atlas shows the same thinkers and movements from several angles. No single map tells the whole story: moving from one to another reveals who is close to whom, who inherits from whom, and where disagreements arise.

• Influences. A chronological frieze tracing who inspired whom: filiations, legacies and ruptures between thinkers and movements. Movements form territories spanning their era, and each thinker sits at their year of birth, so you read the historical depth of an idea at a glance. A second mode crosses time with a chosen axis, to watch a position drift across the centuries.
• Problems. A circulation through questions rather than authors: each problem is housed on its axis but opens doorways onto the neighbouring axes it crosses. You explore the framework by following a thread of inquiry, moving from one axis to another through what genuinely connects them, rather than through an imposed classification.
• Compass. Planes formed by two named, carefully paired axes, where each quadrant is given a name and a figure's position means something precise (its bearing on reason and desire, say). Its strength is to make a question comparable: instead of opinions set side by side, you get a shared space in which to place the authors, and to place yourself.
• Constellation. An overview where no one placed the figures by hand: their position emerges purely from computing their affinities across the whole framework, then settles into a dozen kindred families that organise themselves. You spot unexpected neighbourhoods at a glance, and, as soon as you have a profile, the map re-centres on you.
• Foundations. A graph of the supports between beliefs: which descriptive beliefs underpin others, and how taking one position carries others along step by step. Pick a belief to climb toward what grounds it and descend toward what it implies, revealing the hidden architecture that ties the framework's positions together.

Limits. These maps remain simplifications. A position on an axis condenses a body of thought into a single point, the influences retained are selective, and the affinities measured depend on the axes already filled in. Read them as bearings, not verdicts.