Bridging formal systems and philosophical discourse
Live Demo · Features · Traditions · Operators · Contributing
PhiLang is an experimental programming language and visualization system for exploring philosophical concepts. It provides a formal grammar for expressing relationships between ideas from the great philosophical traditions—from Buddhist emptiness to Hegelian dialectics, from Phenomenology to Process Philosophy.
emptiness ⊗ dep-orig → ¬substance
"Emptiness synthesized with dependent origination derives the negation of substance"
Visualize concept relationships through magnetic force-directed networks. Drag concepts to build derivations, watch semantic affinity reveal philosophical connections.
Simulate debates between 10 philosophical traditions. Watch Phenomenology argue with Buddhism, Hegelianism confront Poststructuralism—powered by Claude AI for genuine philosophical reasoning.
Philosophical therapy sessions. Engage in Socratic dialogue, receive Stoic counsel, practice Buddhist mindful inquiry, or face existential confrontation.
Train neural embeddings on PhiLang concepts. Explore 32D/64D vector spaces with PCA visualization, k-means clustering, and philosophical analogy discovery.
PhiLang includes 150+ concepts from 14 philosophical traditions:
| Tradition | Key Concepts | Thinkers |
|---|---|---|
| Phenomenology | Intentionality, Horizon, Flesh, Lifeworld | Husserl, Merleau-Ponty |
| Buddhism | Emptiness (śūnyatā), Dependent Origination, Non-self | Nāgārjuna, Candrakīrti |
| Hegelianism | Aufhebung, Dialectic, Absolute Spirit, Negation | Hegel, Žižek |
| Process Philosophy | Concrescence, Prehension, Creativity, Actual Occasions | Whitehead, Hartshorne |
| Poststructuralism | Différance, Fold, Rhizome, Deterritorialization | Deleuze, Derrida |
| Spinozism | Substance, Modes, Conatus, Attributes | Spinoza, Deleuze (early) |
| Early Wittgenstein | Logical Form, Picture Theory, Saying/Showing | Wittgenstein (Tractatus) |
| Late Wittgenstein | Language-games, Family Resemblance, Forms of Life | Wittgenstein (Investigations) |
| Kantian | Categories, Transcendental Unity, Thing-in-itself | Kant |
| Aristotelian | Substance, Essence, Four Causes, Eudaimonia | Aristotle |
| Platonic | Forms, Participation, Allegory of the Cave | Plato |
| Computational Complexity | P, NP, 3-SAT, Solver, Verifier, Prehensive Gap | Whitehead, Cook, Turing |
The grammar of philosophical transformation:
| Symbol | Name | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
→ |
Derivation | A leads to B | thesis → antithesis |
⊗ |
Synthesis | A combined with B | being ⊗ nothing → becoming |
¬ |
Negation | Dialectical negation | ¬substance |
⟨ ⟩ |
Epoché | Phenomenological bracket | ⟨natural-attitude⟩ |
∘ |
Composition | A composed with B | time ∘ consciousness |
↺ |
Recursion | Self-reference | self ↺ |
∅ |
Emptiness | Void, absence | ∅ → dependent-origination |
Δ |
Difference | Change, becoming | identity Δ difference |
- Visit the live demo: pixlosopher.github.io/philang
- Configure Claude API (optional): Click "Configure" and add your Anthropic API key for AI-powered features
- Explore:
- Try the Derivation Graph to visualize concept relationships
- Start a Dialectical Dialogue between traditions
- Begin a Socratic Counsel session
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Frontend | Vanilla JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3 |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS |
| Visualization | D3.js (force-directed graphs, embeddings) |
| AI Integration | Claude API (Anthropic) |
| Storage | IndexedDB (local persistence) |
| Hosting | GitHub Pages |
PhiLang is intentionally minimal. Philosophy shouldn't require a 500KB framework to explore. The entire codebase is ~40KB of JavaScript that runs entirely client-side.
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." — Wittgenstein
PhiLang emerged from a simple question: What if we could compute with philosophical concepts the way we compute with numbers?
Philosophy has always had formal structures—syllogisms, dialectics, phenomenological reductions. PhiLang makes these structures explicit and interactive, allowing for:
- Exploration: Discover unexpected connections between traditions
- Education: Learn philosophical concepts through interaction
- Creativity: Generate novel philosophical syntheses
- Dialogue: Engage with AI that reasons philosophically
This is not an attempt to reduce philosophy to algorithms, but to explore it in new ways.
philang/
├── index.html # Landing page
├── derivation_graph.html # Concept visualization
├── dialectical_dialogue.html # AI debates
├── socratic_counsel.html # Philosophical therapy
├── philang_embeddings.html # Basic embeddings
├── philang_embeddings_advanced.html # Advanced embeddings
├── philang_*.js # Core modules
│ ├── philang_config.js # Configuration
│ ├── philang_security.js # Input validation
│ ├── philang_api.js # Claude integration
│ ├── philang_ontology.js # Concept definitions
│ ├── philang_persistence.js # IndexedDB storage
│ └── ...
├── tests/ # Test suite
└── sw.js # Service worker
Contributions are welcome! Areas of particular interest:
- New Traditions: Daoism, Confucianism, African philosophy, Indian schools
- Concept Refinement: Better definitions, more nuanced relationships
- AI Prompts: Improving philosophical reasoning quality
- Visualization: New ways to display philosophical relationships
- Documentation: Tutorials, examples, educational content
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/pixlosopher/philang.git
# Serve locally (any static server works)
python -m http.server 8000
# or
npx serveOpen http://localhost:8000 in your browser.
MIT License - See LICENSE for details.
- Built with Claude AI by Anthropic
- Visualization powered by D3.js
- Typography: Cormorant Garamond, Crimson Pro, JetBrains Mono
