37 schools of thought

Schools and traditions of thought, from ancient Greece to today, with core ideas, thinkers and books to start with. Want to know which one you are closest to? Take the test.

• Confucianism and TaoismThe two great traditions of classical Chinese philosophy: one focused on social order and virtue, the other on harmony with the Tao.3 thinkers · from 571 BC to 440 BC
• Pre-SocraticsThe first Greek philosophers, who tried to explain nature and the cosmos through reason rather than myth alone.5 thinkers · from 570 BC to 460 BC
• BuddhismA tradition born in India that sees suffering as the fruit of attachment and teaches a path to be freed from it.3 thinkers · from 563 BC to 1915
• PlatonismA tradition that sees, beyond the world of the senses, a reality of eternal ideas such as the Good, Beauty and Justice.6 thinkers · from 470 BC to 1919
• Hedonism and EpicureanismA tradition that sees pleasure and the absence of pain as the measure of a good life, in both intense and moderate versions.5 thinkers · from 435 BC to today
• Cynicism and StoicismGreek and Roman schools that teach living in agreement with nature, seeking virtue and inner freedom.4 thinkers · from 412 BC to 121
• Aristotelianism and ScholasticismAristotle's philosophy and the medieval tradition that joined it to faith, seeking rational order in nature, ethics and God.6 thinkers · from 384 BC to 1919
• SkepticismA tradition that doubts we can reach certainty and proposes suspending judgment in order to live more calmly.2 thinkers · from 360 BC to 1533
• VedantaA school of Indian philosophy that, drawing on the Upanishads, explores the link between the inner self and ultimate reality.1 thinker · born 788
• Political realismA tradition that studies power as it actually works rather than as it should be, setting politics apart from idealized morality.1 thinker · born 1469
• Christian thoughtPhilosophical reflection grounded in Christian faith, on God, the human person, evil, grace and the meaning of life.6 thinkers · from 1509 to 1909
• Social contract theoryA tradition that explains society and government as the result of an agreement, or contract, among free and equal people.3 thinkers · from 1588 to 1712
• RationalismA modern tradition that sees reason, rather than the senses, as the main source of secure knowledge.4 thinkers · from 1596 to today
• FeminismA tradition that examines and challenges inequality between women and men in society and in thought.5 thinkers · from 1666 to today
• EmpiricismA tradition holding that all knowledge comes from experience and the senses, not from innate ideas.2 thinkers · from 1685 to 1711
• EnlightenmentAn 18th-century movement that trusted reason, science and liberty to criticize tradition and reform society.2 thinkers · from 1694 to 1737
• Mind and human natureThinkers who ask what the mind is and what is distinctive about human nature, from the body to inner life.3 thinkers · from 1709 to 1942
• LiberalismA tradition that puts individual liberty, rights and government limited by law at the center of political and economic life.6 thinkers · from 1723 to today
• German idealismA German philosophical movement, from Kant to Hegel, that studied how mind and spirit shape the reality we know.3 thinkers · from 1724 to 1788
• ConservatismA tradition that values institutions, customs and accumulated experience, and prefers gradual reform to radical rupture.6 thinkers · from 1729 to today
• UtilitarianismAn ethical theory holding that the right action is the one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number.4 thinkers · from 1748 to today
• AnarchismA tradition that defends a society without the state or domination, organized through free cooperation and voluntary association.6 thinkers · from 1756 to today
• Socialism and MarxismA tradition that criticizes capitalism and defends collective ownership of the means of production to overcome exploitation and classes.5 thinkers · from 1772 to today
• Positivism and scientismA tradition that takes science as the model for all reliable knowledge and wants to apply scientific method to society too.1 thinker · born 1798
• TranscendentalismA 19th-century American movement that sought truth in individual intuition, in nature and in one's own conscience.2 thinkers · from 1803 to 1817
• ExistentialismA tradition that starts from each person's concrete existence: their freedom, their choices, anxiety and the search for meaning.4 thinkers · from 1813 to 1913
• Anti-racist and anti-colonial thoughtThought that analyzes racism, caste and colonialism and defends the dignity and freedom of oppressed peoples.5 thinkers · from 1818 to 1929
• PragmatismAn American tradition that judges ideas by their practical consequences: an idea is worth what it makes work in experience.3 thinkers · from 1842 to 1860
• Analytic philosophyA style of philosophy that seeks clarity, using logic and the analysis of language to solve problems.4 thinkers · from 1848 to 1902
• Phenomenology and hermeneuticsDescribes how things appear in lived experience and how all understanding depends on interpretation.3 thinkers · from 1859 to 1900
• Critical theoryA tradition that analyzes society to reveal hidden forms of domination and point toward emancipation.4 thinkers · from 1898 to today
• LibertarianismA tradition that defends maximum individual liberty, private property and a minimal state, or even no state at all.3 thinkers · from 1905 to 1938
• Communitarianism and republicanismTraditions that stress community, virtue and civic participation in response to individualism.3 thinkers · from 1906 to today
• Systematic metaphysicsThinkers who build complete systems about being, spirit and the meaning of reality.1 thinker · born 1907
• Structuralism and post-structuralismFrench traditions that explain meaning through relations within systems, and later question those systems.4 thinkers · from 1908 to 1930
• Ecology and Indigenous thoughtThought that sees human beings as part of nature and values Indigenous knowledge about the Earth.1 thinker · born 1912
• Liberation philosophy and theologyLatin American philosophy and theology that think from the standpoint of the poor and seek to overcome oppression.1 thinker · born 1921