Quest2ReasonClimb the mountain, sharpen your mind.

The schools

Ideas

55 schools of thought, from the ancient world to today. Search for a thinker or an idea, or group the schools by era, tradition or name.

CharvakaBrihaspati (traditional founder), Purandara and, by some accounts, Jay…Non-Vedic traditionsc. 600 BCE onward3 lessons

JainismMahavira, in a much older lineageNon-Vedic traditionsc. 6th to 5th c. BCE3 lessons

ConfucianismConfucius, Mencius, XunziChinese philosophyc. 500 BCE8 lessons

The PresocraticsHeraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno and the early atomistsAncient Greek and Romanc. 500 BCE4 lessons

BuddhismSiddhartha GautamaNon-Vedic traditionsc. 5th c. BCE3 lessons

The SophistsProtagoras, Gorgias and other paid teachers in AthensAncient Greek and Romanc. 450 BCE3 lessons

MohismMozi and the later MohistsChinese philosophyc. 430 BCE3 lessons

DaoismLaozi, ZhuangziChinese philosophyc. 400 BCE2 lessons

PlatonismPlatoAncient Greek and Romanc. 400 BCE5 lessons

CynicismAntisthenes, Diogenes, CratesAncient Greek and Romanc. 380 BCE2 lessons

AristotelianismAristotleAncient Greek and Romanc. 340 BCE7 lessons

EpicureanismEpicurusAncient Greek and Romanc. 307 BCE6 lessons

PyrrhonismPyrrho of Elis, Sextus Empiricus and AgrippaAncient Greek and Romanc. 300 BCE3 lessons

StoicismZeno of Citium, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, SenecaAncient Greek and Romanc. 300 BCE12 lessons

Zhuangzi’s DaoismZhuangziChinese philosophyc. 300 BCE3 lessons

LegalismHan FeiChinese philosophyc. 250 BCE2 lessons

MimamsaJaiminiIndian philosophy, the orthodox schoolsc. 3rd c. BCE to 2nd c. CE3 lessons

VaisheshikaKanadaIndian philosophy, the orthodox schoolsc. 2nd c. BCE to 1st c. CE2 lessons

MadhyamakaNagarjuna, ChandrakirtiNon-Vedic traditionsc. 150 CE4 lessons

NyayaAkshapada GautamaIndian philosophy, the orthodox schoolsc. 2nd c. CE (text)3 lessons

NeoplatonismPlotinus, Porphyry and ProclusAncient Greek and Romanc. 250 CE3 lessons

SamkhyaKapila (by tradition), IshvarakrishnaIndian philosophy, the orthodox schoolstext c. 350 CE2 lessons

YogaPatanjaliIndian philosophy, the orthodox schoolstext c. 400 CE2 lessons

The Poet-SagesThiruvalluvar, Kabir and the bhakti poetsPhilosophy lived in communityc. 300 BCE to 1500 CE3 lessons

ZenBodhidharma, Huineng, Dogen, HakuinChinese philosophyfrom c. 500 CE5 lessons

VedantaThe Upanishads, Shankara and later commentatorsIndian philosophy, the orthodox schoolsUpanishads onward; Shankara c. 8th c. CE6 lessons

FalsafaAl-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn SinaFaith and reason, 1000 to 1700c. 1020 CE6 lessons

The MasnaviJalal al-Din RumiFaith and reason, 1000 to 1700c. 1258 CE2 lessons

ScholasticismAnselm, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of OckhamFaith and reason, 1000 to 1700c. 1270 CE10 lessons

Ibn Khaldun’s science of societyIbn Khaldun of Tunis, author of the MuqaddimahFaith and reason, 1000 to 170013773 lessons

Indigenous philosophiesHaudenosaunee, Māori, Lakota and other Indigenous knowledge keepersPhilosophy lived in communityLiving traditions3 lessons

RationalismDescartes, Spinoza, LeibnizEnlightenment and knowledge1637 onward7 lessons

The social contractHobbes, Locke, Rousseau, RawlsEnlightenment and knowledge1651 onward21 lessons

EmpiricismLocke, Berkeley, HumeEnlightenment and knowledge1689 onward5 lessons

Sor Juana’s right to studySor Juana Inés de la CruzFaith and reason, 1000 to 170016913 lessons

The philosophesVoltaire, Montesquieu, DiderotEnlightenment and knowledgec. 17506 lessons

KantianismImmanuel KantEnlightenment and knowledge1781 onward6 lessons

UtilitarianismBentham, Mill, SingerEnlightenment and knowledge1789 onward4 lessons

Feminist philosophyWollstonecraft, Gilligan, Noddings, Harding, CrenshawModern and contemporary1792 onward4 lessons

Hegelian dialecticG. W. F. Hegel, after Kant, Fichte and SchellingHistory, power and critique1807 onward3 lessons

ExistentialismKierkegaard, SartreExistence and experience1843 onward4 lessons

MarxismKarl Marx and Friedrich EngelsHistory, power and critique1844 onward3 lessons

PragmatismPeirce, James, DeweyModern and contemporary1878 onward5 lessons

NihilismNietzscheExistence and experience1880s7 lessons

PhenomenologyHusserl, Heidegger, Merleau-PontyExistence and experience1900 onward9 lessons

Analytic philosophyFrege, Russell, Moore, WittgensteinModern and contemporaryc. 1900 onward3 lessons

SatyagrahaMohandas GandhiPhilosophy lived in community1906 onward3 lessons

The Kyoto SchoolNishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime and Nishitani KeijiModern and contemporary1911 onward3 lessons

Critical theoryHorkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse and Habermas, with Gramsci and, in a relat…History, power and critique1937 onward4 lessons

AbsurdismAlbert CamusExistence and experience19425 lessons

The ethics of ambiguitySimone de BeauvoirExistence and experience19473 lessons

Arendt’s politics of actionHannah ArendtModern and contemporary1951 onward3 lessons

Bearing witnessMaya AngelouPhilosophy lived in community1969 onward3 lessons

Akan philosophyKwasi Wiredu, Kwame Gyekye and the Akan wisdom traditionPhilosophy lived in communityTraditional; written works from 19803 lessons

UbuntuThe Nguni proverb, Desmond Tutu, Nelson MandelaPhilosophy lived in communitySouthern African proverb4 lessons