From Plato to Wittgenstein, the thinkers who taught us how to think about thinking.
60 GeniusesPhilosophy is the foundation of every other discipline — it asks what we can know, what we should do, and what truly exists. The 2,500-year conversation has been carried by a small number of remarkable minds.
Aristotle systematized logic and ethics. Kant set the boundaries of pure reason. Wittgenstein redefined language. Each one is on this list.
Plato and Aristotle are the two most-cited candidates. Plato founded the first university in the West; Aristotle systematized logic, biology, ethics, and metaphysics.
Estimates vary widely, but John Stuart Mill is often cited at IQ 180–200, partly because of extreme childhood precocity. Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci also rank near the top.
Bertrand Russell, Henri Bergson, and Jean-Paul Sartre all won the Nobel Prize in Literature, recognizing their philosophical writing. Sartre famously declined the award.
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