Philosophies
28 ways of thinking about what exists, what we can know, how to act and what gives life meaning. Each page says in plain words what the philosophy holds, who is part of it, and where to read further.
Not sure where you fit? Take the walk and see which ones your own answers sit closest to.
The big questions behind them are explained on the ideas pages.
Abrahamic
- Theism Theism holds that there is a God, a being who made the world, knows us and cares what we do. Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought are the best known forms. Similar ideas run through Indian thought, where devotion to a personal God has a long history.
Confucian
- Confucianism Confucianism says we become good through our relationships with family, friends and community. It values respect, learning and doing right in every role. A good society is built from good people.
Daoist
- Daoism Daoism comes from ancient China. It says to live in step with the natural way of things and not to force them. It is wary of strict rules and fixed labels.
Hellenistic
- Cynicism The Cynics were ancient Greeks who lived with almost nothing. They said virtue is all a person needs to be happy, and that wealth, rank and social custom are false. They tried to live in line with nature and to speak the truth without fear.
- Epicureanism Epicureanism began in ancient Athens. It says the good life is a calm life, free from pain and fear. It teaches that the world is made of atoms. It also says death is nothing to us, and that the gods do not care about us.
- Stoicism Stoicism began in ancient Greece. It says the only real good is a good character. Peace comes from doing your best with what is up to you, and calmly accepting what is not.
Ancient Greek
- Aristotelian virtue ethics Being good is about the kind of person you become. Aristotle taught that a good life comes from building good habits, like courage and honesty, and using sound judgment in each situation.
Buddhist
- Theravada Buddhism Theravada is the oldest surviving school of Buddhism. It teaches that everything changes, that there is no lasting self, and that we are reborn until we reach freedom from suffering. It keeps the teachings of the Buddha in the Pali Canon, with monks at the centre.
- Madhyamaka Buddhism Madhyamaka is a Buddhist school. It says nothing exists on its own with a fixed nature, not even the self. Seeing this clearly helps us let go of clinging. Thinkers in the school also argue that it leads us to care about the suffering of all beings.
Vedanta
- Advaita Vedanta Advaita Vedanta is a tradition of Indian thought. It says that your true self and the one ultimate reality are the same. We miss this because of ignorance, and freedom comes from seeing it clearly. Its best known teacher is Shankara, in the 8th century.
Continental Rationalism
- Rationalism Rationalism says clear thinking, more than the senses, is our best path to knowledge. Careful reasoning can show us deep truths about the world and the mind.
Enlightenment
- Liberalism Liberalism puts individual liberty first. It says people are free and equal in standing. It says government needs their consent and a good reason, and that power should be limited and bound by law. Liberals disagree about how far markets and welfare should go.
Secular Thought
- Atheism and naturalism Atheism says there is no God, or that nothing good supports belief in one. Many atheists also hold naturalism. This says the world is all of nature, and science is the best way to study all of it, even the mind.
- Agnosticism Agnosticism says that nobody can know, or has good reason to decide, whether there is a God. The word was made up in 1869 by Thomas Huxley, who wanted a name for holding back from both belief and denial.
- Secular humanism Secular humanism is a way of living without a God. It builds ethics on reason, experience and care for other people, and it looks to science to understand the world. Its aim is a good life here, with freedom and fairness for everyone.
British Empiricism
- Humean empiricism and skepticism This view follows David Hume. It says what we know comes from experience, and that thinking alone cannot prove big claims. Right and wrong come from human feelings and habits more than from pure reason.
Modern Ethics
- Utilitarianism Utilitarianism says the right act is the one that does the most good for everyone it affects. Each person's wellbeing counts the same.
- Kantian deontology Immanuel Kant said some things are our duty whatever happens. Moral rules apply to everyone who can reason. Always treat people as having their own worth, never only as tools.
Political Conservative
- Conservatism Conservatism values inherited institutions and customs. It trusts experience over abstract theory, and prefers slow reform to sudden change. It sees people as limited, and society as something that grows, not something to be rebuilt from a plan.
Existentialist
- Nihilism Nihilism says life has no built-in meaning, and that in the end nothing matters. Many nihilists add that any meaning we make up for ourselves is not real meaning. Some forms also say there is no right or wrong, or that we cannot really know anything.
- Existentialism Existentialism is a modern movement. Many of its best-known thinkers say life has no meaning ready-made for us. Each of us is free, and we make meaning through what we choose and do. That also means we are responsible for how we live.
- Nietzschean perspectivism Nietzsche said we always see the world from some point of view, never from nowhere. He thought our moral rules grew out of human life and the struggle for power, not pure reason. So he urged people to question inherited values and shape their own.
- Absurdism Absurdism says we long for meaning, but the world gives us none. That clash is what Camus called the absurd. His answer: do not give up, and do not pretend. Keep living fully, anyway.
Marxist
- Marxism Marxism, begun by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, explains society through its economy and its classes. It criticises capitalism as exploitation and alienation, and aims at a classless society with common ownership.
American
- Pragmatism Pragmatism is an American philosophy. It judges ideas by the difference they make in real life. It treats knowing as an ongoing experiment, so we should be ready to change our minds as we learn.
- Objectivism Objectivism is Ayn Rand's philosophy. It says reality is real whatever we wish, and that reason is the only way to know it. It says each person should pursue their own happiness, and that a free market best protects the individual.
- Libertarianism Libertarianism says individual freedom matters most and that no one may be forced to serve the good of others. It stresses owning yourself, private property and voluntary trade. It wants a very small state, and some libertarians want none.
African
- Ubuntu and African communal thought Ubuntu is a set of African ideas that a person becomes a person through other people. It puts character, duties and the good of the community ahead of individual rights, and it grounds ethics in human welfare.