Seba.Health
Figures
The philosophers, alchemists, physicians, and psychologists whose work shaped the tradition — from Homer to Hillman.
Ancient
Aristotle
Classical philosopher and natural scientist · 384–322 BCE
Aristotle was the Greek philosopher and natural scientist whose treatise De Anima constitutes the first systematic investigation of the soul in Wester…
AncientEmpedocles
Pre-Socratic philosopher and healer · c. 494–434 BCE
Empedocles was a Pre-Socratic philosopher, healer, and poet from Akragas in Sicily who taught that love and strife govern the cosmic cycle of creation…
AncientEpictetus
Stoic philosopher · c. 50–135 CE
Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher born into slavery whose teachings on the distinction between what is "up to us" and what is not became foundational …
AncientHeraclitus
Pre-Socratic philosopher · c. 535–475 BCE
Heraclitus was a Pre-Socratic philosopher from Ephesus whose surviving fragments articulate a vision of reality as perpetual flux governed by the unit…
AncientHermes Trismegistus
Legendary sage of the Hermetic tradition · c. 1st–3rd century CE (texts)
Hermes Trismegistus was the legendary Greco-Egyptian sage credited with the Hermetic writings, a body of texts that fused Egyptian mystery religion, G…
AncientHomer
Epic poet · c. 8th century BCE
Homer was the legendary Greek epic poet traditionally credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature.…
AncientMarcus Aurelius
Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher · 121–180 CE
Marcus Aurelius was the Roman emperor whose private journal, the Meditations, constitutes the most sustained exercise in philosophical self-examinatio…
AncientParmenides
Pre-Socratic philosopher · c. 515–450 BCE
Parmenides was a Pre-Socratic philosopher from Elea in southern Italy whose poem *On Nature* describes a visionary descent to a goddess who reveals th…
AncientPlato
Classical philosopher · c. 428–348 BCE
Plato was the Athenian philosopher whose dialogues established the foundational architecture of Western thought about the soul. His tripartite model i…
AncientPlotinus
Neoplatonic philosopher · c. 204–270 CE
Plotinus was the founder of Neoplatonism whose Enneads formalized the inward turn that would become the defining gesture of depth psychology. His inju…
AncientSaint Augustine
Theologian and philosopher · 354–430 CE
Augustine of Hippo was the Church Father whose Confessions inaugurated the Western tradition of psychological self-examination. His injunction to retu…
AncientSeneca
Stoic philosopher, dramatist, and statesman · c. 4 BCE–65 CE
Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, and statesman whose letters and essays constitute the most psychologically acute body of practical ph…
AncientSocrates
Classical philosopher · 470–399 BCE
Socrates was the Athenian philosopher who practiced philosophy as relentless self-examination, teaching through dialogue rather than doctrine. He wrot…
AncientValentinus
Gnostic theologian and mystic · c. 100–160 CE
Valentinus was the most philosophically sophisticated of the Gnostic teachers, whose mythology of Sophia's fall from the divine fullness into matter b…
AncientZosimos of Panopolis
Alchemist and Gnostic mystic · c. 300 CE
Zosimos of Panopolis was a Greco-Egyptian alchemist whose visionary writings represent the earliest surviving alchemical texts of substance. His Visio…
Medieval
Dante Alighieri
Poet and visionary · 1265–1321
Dante Alighieri was the Florentine poet whose Divine Comedy — comprising Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso — constitutes the supreme literary katabasi…
MedievalMeister Eckhart
Mystic and theologian · c. 1260–1328
Meister Eckhart was the German Dominican mystic whose radical theology of detachment and inner transformation profoundly influenced Jung's analytical …
Early Modern
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Poet, dramatist, and natural philosopher · 1749–1832
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the German poet, dramatist, and natural philosopher whose Faust is the supreme alchemical drama in Western literature. …
Early ModernJohn Keats
Romantic poet · 1795–1821
John Keats was the English Romantic poet whose brief life produced some of the most psychologically penetrating verse in the language. His concept of …
Early ModernParacelsus
Physician, alchemist, and natural philosopher · 1493–1541
Paracelsus was the Renaissance physician-alchemist who insisted that healing requires treating the whole person — body, soul, and spirit. Born Theophr…
Early ModernWilliam Blake
Poet, painter, and visionary · 1757–1827
William Blake was the English poet, painter, and visionary whose work insists that imagination is not fantasy but the primary organ of perception. His…
Modern
Bruno Snell
Classical philologist · 1896–1986
Bruno Snell was the German classical philologist whose Discovery of the Mind demonstrated that Homeric Greeks did not possess a unified concept of sel…
ModernCarl Gustav Jung
Psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology · 1875–1961
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist who founded analytical psychology and reshaped the Western understanding of the unconscious. His concepts of…
ModernEdward F. Edinger
Jungian analyst and author · 1922–1998
Edward F. Edinger was an American Jungian analyst who made Jung's most difficult ideas clinically accessible. His mapping of the ego-Self axis as the …
ModernFriedrich Nietzsche
Philosopher and cultural critic · 1844–1900
Friedrich Nietzsche was the German philosopher and cultural critic who diagnosed the death of God, the crisis of modern values, and the need for a tra…
ModernJames Hillman
Psychologist and founder of archetypal psychology · 1926–2011
James Hillman was an American psychologist who founded archetypal psychology, moving Jungian thought out of the consulting room and into culture, aest…
ModernMarie-Louise von Franz
Jungian analyst and scholar · 1915–1998
Marie-Louise von Franz was a Swiss Jungian analyst who worked alongside Jung for over thirty years and became the foremost interpreter of fairy tales,…
ModernMarion Woodman
Jungian analyst and author · 1928–2018
Marion Woodman was a Canadian Jungian analyst who pioneered the integration of body and psyche in analytical practice. Her clinical work with eating d…
ModernSigmund Freud
Neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis · 1856–1939
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis — the first systematic method of exploring the unconscious mind. His discovery of…
ModernWolfgang Pauli
Theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate · 1900–1958
Wolfgang Pauli was the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who became Jung's analysand and most consequential intellectual collaborator. Their d…