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Classical Philosophy and Thought

Classical Philosophy and Thought is a research topic within Philosophy. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1950. 10.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics in ancient philosophy, including the works and influence of Plato, Aristotle, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Hellenistic philosophy, Presocratic philosophers, Roman thought, ancient ethics, metaphysics, and ancient theology.

  • Plato
  • Aristotle
  • Stoicism
  • Epicureanism
  • Hellenistic Philosophy
  • Presocratic Philosophers
  • Roman Thought
  • Ancient Ethics
  • Metaphysics
  • Ancient Theology
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Classical Philosophy and Thought

Which countries lead Classical Philosophy and Thought research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (921 and 360 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 921 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 360 works
  3. 3 Italy 325 works
  4. 4 France 304 works
  5. 5 Brazil 251 works
  6. 6 Germany 240 works
  7. 7 Spain 178 works
  8. 8 Canada 141 works
  9. 9 Russia 141 works
  10. 10 Poland 96 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 31.1%United Kingdom: 12.2%Italy: 11.0%France: 10.3%6 others listed: 35.4%31%largest
United States921 · 31.1%United Kingdom360 · 12.2%Italy325 · 11.0%France304 · 10.3%6 others listed1,047 · 35.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Classical Philosophy and Thought research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Classical Philosophy and Thought research, followed by Ca' Foscari University of Venice and University of Cambridge.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 94 works
  2. 2 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 79 works
  3. 3 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 56 works
  4. 4 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 49 works
  5. 5 University of TorontoCanada 34 works
  6. 6 Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 31 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 30 works
  8. 8 KU LeuvenBelgium 25 works
  9. 9 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 24 works
  10. 10 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 23 works

Who are the leading researchers in Classical Philosophy and Thought?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Classical Philosophy and Thought include Pierre Bourdıeu, James Thomas and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 James Thomas United Kingdom 242k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  5. 5 Roy Frederick Baumeister United States 183k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Classical Philosophy and Thought?

The most cited paper in Classical Philosophy and Thought is "Relevance: Communication and Cognition" (Dan Sperber, Deirdre Wilson, 1986), with 6,071 citations. Next come "The self system in reciprocal determinism." (2,110) and "TRUTH AND OTHER ENIGMAS" (1,913).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Relevance: Communication and Cognition Dan Sperber, Deirdre Wilson 6 Mar 1986 6,071
2 The self system in reciprocal determinism. Albert Bandura · American Psychologist Apr 1978 2,110
3 TRUTH AND OTHER ENIGMAS C. J. F. Williams · Philosophical Books Oct 1979 1,913
4 The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason R. Jay Wallace · Philosophical Books Oct 1988 1,521
5 Strategies for Change: Logical Incrementalism Joseph E. McCann, James Brian Quinn · Academy of Management Review Apr 1982 1,470
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Classical Philosophy and Thought research done?

The largest centres of Classical Philosophy and Thought research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Venice (Italy), Moscow (Russia) and Madrid (Spain). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Venice and Pátrai.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 122 works
  2. 2 VeniceItaly 79 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 74 works
  4. 4 MadridSpain 69 works
  5. 5 New YorkUnited States 62 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 62 works
  7. 7 RomeItaly 60 works
  8. 8 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 57 works
  9. 9 OxfordUnited Kingdom 55 works
  10. 10 Buenos AiresArgentina 53 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. VeniceIT · 79.3 works59×
  2. PátraiGR · 22.8 works16×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Classical Philosophy and Thought than the world average.

See Classical Philosophy and Thought on the map

Where is the best place to study Classical Philosophy and Thought?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Metropolitan State University of Denver score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%25%50%75%mean 18.49%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Metropolitan State U…University of OxfordUniversity of Cambri…Ca' Foscari Universi…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 64.415.1%9.5×50 +21.5%
2University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 64.110.5%12.6×56 +90.1%
3Metropolitan State University of DenverUnited States 61.560.9%103.3×8 +374.2%
4Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 59.99.0%90.3×79 +390.5%
5King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 51.620.3%6.3×20 +62.0%
6University of TorontoCanada 50.110.0%4.6×34 +28.2%
7University of TübingenGermany 49.515.3%12.5×20 +19.9%
8Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinGermany 45.617.3%12.5×17 +10.8%
9KU LeuvenBelgium 44.817.0%7.0×25 -12.6%
10University of ViennaAustria 43.69.5%9.2×17 +53.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Classical Philosophy and Thought, country by country

Is Classical Philosophy and Thought research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Classical Philosophy and Thought as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.019% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Classical Philosophy and Thought0.014% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Classical Philosophy and Thought over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Classical Philosophy and Thought9.5% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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