Nick Bostrom

Nick Bostrom

Samuel Johnson

(1709 - 1784)

Photograph of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

(1821 - 1867)

James Howell

(c. 1594 - 1666)

Image of English naturalist Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin

(1809 - 1882)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Synesius

(c. 370 - c. 414)

Murasaki Shikibu

(c. 973 - c. 1031)

Shirley Jackson

(1916 - 1965)

American novelist Richard Powers.

Richard Powers

Pastel drawing of George Eliot.

George Eliot

(1819 - 1880)

Gaspar Ofhuys

(c. 1456 - c. 1523)

Gustave Le Bon

Gustave Le Bon

(1841 - 1931)

Lame Deer

(1903 - 1976)

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

Nikolai Gogol

(1809 - 1852)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Black and white photograph of French mystic, philosopher, and activist Simone Weil.

Simone Weil

(1909 - 1943)

Liu Xie

(465 - 522)

Wumen Huikai

Wumen Huikai

(1183 - 1260)

Quintus Serenus Sammonicus

Thomas Adeoye Lambo

(1923 - 2004)

Black and white photograph of American writer and exponent of Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

Iris Murdoch

(1919 - 1999)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

French critic Roland Barthes.

Roland Barthes

(1915 - 1980)

Colorized engraving of Voltaire wearing a wig.

Voltaire

(1694 - 1778)

Kate Millett

Kate Millett

(1934 - 2017)

Cesare Lombroso

(1835 - 1909)

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Portrait of English essayist and critic Thomas De Quincey.

Thomas De Quincey

(1785 - 1859)

Ron Padgett

Marilynne Robinson

Photograph of Italian writer Italo Calvino.

Italo Calvino

(1923 - 1985)

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.

Hippocrates

(c. 460 BC - c. 375 BC)

Isaac Asimov

(1920 - 1992)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Black and white photograph of Mao Zedong with raised arm.

Mao Zedong

(1893 - 1976)

French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes.

René Descartes

(1596 - 1650)

Diane Ackerman

Photograph of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

(1899 - 1977)

French writer, critic, and book publisher Edmond de Goncourt.

Edmond Goncourt

(1822 - 1896)

Mary Ruefle

French man of letters Denis Diderot.

Denis Diderot

(1713 - 1784)

Mark Salzman

English nurse Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale

(1820 - 1910)

Saint Augustine (detail), by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645.

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg

Black and white photograph of John Crowley sitting on a porch.

John Crowley

Sangyé Gyatso

Sangyé Gyatso

(1653 - 1705)

Black and white photograph of Emily Dickinson sitting next to a desk.

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Hilary Putnam

Hilary Putnam

(1926 - 2016)

François Poullain de La Barre

François Poullain de La Barre

(1647 - 1723)

Ferris Jabr.

Ferris Jabr

Joyce Carol Oates

Greek physician, writer, and philosopher Galen.

Galen

(129 - c. 216)

Noga Arikha

Oshio Heihachiro

Oshio Heihachiro

(1793 - 1837)

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

(1839 - 1908)

Al-Ghazali

(1058 - 1111)

Bessie Head

(1937 - 1986)

Margaret Cavendish

(1623 - 1673)

Alan Turing

Alan Turing

(1912 - 1954)

Painted portrait of Scottish philosopher David Hume.

David Hume

(1711 - 1776)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Alice James

Alice James

(1848 - 1892)

Sy Montgomery

Sepia colored photo of Oscar Wilde sitting on a rock with a book in his hand

Oscar Wilde

(1854 - 1900)

Rebecca Solnit

Johann Weyer

Johann Weyer

(1515 - 1588)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

Portrait of Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

(1712 - 1778)

Photograph of Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

(1899 - 1986)

Maria

Maria Mitchell

(1818 - 1889)

Alexander Crummell.

Alexander Crummell

(1819 - 1898)

Katsuki Sekida

(1893 - 1987)

Black and white photograph of American poet Marianne Moore.

Marianne Moore

(1887 - 1972)

Black and white photograph of Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi.

Primo Levi

(1919 - 1987)

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

Alois Alzheimer

Alois Alzheimer

(1864 - 1915)

Oil painting portrair Michel de Montaigne in red robes and white collar

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

Portrait of Chinese Daoist Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi

(c. 369 BC - 286 BC)

Persian philosopher and scientist Avicenna.

Avicenna

(980 - 1037)

E.C. Krupp

E.C. Krupp

Portrait of French philosopher Claude-Adrien Helvétius.

Claude-Adrien Helvétius

(1715 - 1771)

Damion Searls.

Damion Searls

Chen Deyi

(c. 1476 - c. 1494)

Anthony Gottlieb.

Anthony Gottlieb