MethodArgument Atlas

The AskPhilosophy Argument Atlas 2026

In short

According to the AskPhilosophy Argument Atlas (525 arguments by 225 thinkers, reconstructed and tested by a logic solver, October 2026), only 14.7% of these arguments are valid as their author wrote them: the remaining 85.3% need at least one premise the author leaves unstated.

525arguments reconstructed (premises, conclusion)

225thinkers, from Antiquity to today

14.7 %valid as the author wrote them

85.3 %valid only with an unstated premise

1678objections, each tied to a premise

50.1 %of objections get a reply from the author himself or herself

32.7 %of objections came after the author's death

4295original-text extracts checked word for word

70false common beliefs about the 50 best-known philosophers

By big question

Question	Arguments	Objections	Objections with a reply	Valid with an unstated premise
Does God exist?	67	256	69.1 %	91 %
Does life have a meaning?	15	48	43.8 %	100 %
Are we free?	31	106	57.5 %	54.8 %
Can we be certain of anything?	39	110	50.9 %	89.7 %
What makes something right?	50	155	60.6 %	82 %
Is the mind the brain?	21	69	62.3 %	42.9 %
What is happiness?	29	83	49.4 %	93.1 %
Should we fear death?	18	47	40.4 %	94.4 %
What is a just society?	48	153	62.7 %	83.3 %
Who am I, really?	27	86	48.8 %	85.2 %
Can a machine think?	11	37	64.9 %	90.9 %
Should we believe without proof?	15	43	67.4 %	73.3 %
Why is there something rather than nothing?	14	36	58.3 %	100 %
Is the world real?	13	40	47.5 %	76.9 %
Do animals matter as much as we do?	17	54	61.1 %	94.1 %
Should we have children?	7	20	35 %	100 %
What is love?	14	41	34.1 %	100 %
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?	14	42	52.4 %	100 %
Can science explain everything?	14	44	52.3 %	64.3 %
Does time really exist?	11	36	63.9 %	90.9 %
Are humans good by nature?	17	68	57.4 %	100 %
Must we always obey the law?	17	52	82.7 %	88.2 %
Does history have a direction?	16	52	71.2 %	100 %

The most debated arguments

The problem of evil	David Hume	3 objections
Whatever begins has a cause: the universe too	William Lane Craig	5 objections
The fine-tuning of the universe: too perfect a coincidence?	Robin Collins	5 objections
The moral law points to a lawgiver	C. S. Lewis	5 objections
If God seems present, he probably is	Richard Swinburne	4 objections
The Chinese room	John Searle	6 objections
The wager	Blaise Pascal	6 objections
That than which nothing greater can be conceived exists	Anselme de Cantorbéry	5 objections

Languages of the checked original texts

English : 993 · French : 891 · Latin : 625 · German : 606 · Ancient Greek : 427 · Arabic : 248 · Italian : 170 · Classical Chinese : 153 · Danish : 64 · Chinese : 60

Method

Each argument is reconstructed as premises and a conclusion from its author's text; when a step is missing, it is added charitably and flagged as an "unstated premise". Validity is tested by a logic solver (Z3), with and without the unstated premises. Every quoted extract is found word for word in the stored original text (original language and translation); the build refuses to publish an extract it cannot find. An objection counts as "with a reply" if the author or a published defender answered it; replies are never invented. Figures recomputed at every site update (latest: 2026-10-24). Our method.

Cite the Atlas

AskPhilosophy, "AskPhilosophy Argument Atlas", 2026-10-24, https://askphilosophy.com/en/argument-atlas/