151 Schools of Philosophy

Every system people have built for ordering the world — and the arguments between them.

How this list was made

This is a selection, not an inventory. There is no complete list of the schools of philosophy, and anyone offering one is drawing a boundary and hoping you won't notice. What is here is chosen to give an impression of the range: how many different ways human beings have found to sort experience into a system, and how inventive, strange and stubborn those systems are.

The spread is deliberate. Modern European and Anglo-American schools together make up under a quarter of what follows. That is not a correction applied afterwards — it is simply what the record contains once you stop beginning in Athens. Nyaya is a logic. Samkhya is a metaphysics. Legalism is a theory of the state. Kokugaku is a philology. Ubuntu is an account of what it is to be a person at all. Filing them under a Greek word makes most of this section look like guests in someone else's house, and they are not.

To be included, a school has to be a named body of doctrine that identifiable people held, argued for, and were known by. That keeps out three things that otherwise flood in: fields of study, since epistemology is a subject rather than a school; bare positions, since realism is something you hold rather than something you join; and whole traditions, since Chinese philosophy is a civilisation's worth of disagreement, not a doctrine. Political and religious movements are out for the same reason.

The list stops at about 1970. Everything after that is still being argued over, still acquiring and losing adherents, and difficult to describe without taking a side.

Where a school has grown families of its own — Vedanta, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, Kabbalah — the major children have their own entries and the smaller ones are described inside the parent. Every such line is a judgement, and a different editor would draw it differently.

The Great Schools

Every school in the Atlas, from the Vedic period to the present day.

151 schools

AThe continent and its diaspora

Ethiopian Rationalism (Hatata) Ethiopian Rationalism (Hatata) from 1667 Akan Moral Philosophy Akan Moral Philosophy from 1700 Ubuntu Philosophy Ubuntu Philosophy from 1846 Negritude Philosophy Negritude Philosophy from 1935 Ethnophilosophy Ethnophilosophy from 1945 Ujamaa Ujamaa 1962 – 1985 Consciencism Consciencism from 1964 Philosophic Sagacity Philosophic Sagacity from 1970

ABritain, Scotland and the United States

British Empiricism British Empiricism 1690 – 1780 Scottish Common Sense School Scottish Common Sense School 1764 – 1860 Classical Utilitarianism Classical Utilitarianism from 1789 American Transcendentalism American Transcendentalism 1836 – 1860 British Idealism British Idealism 1865 – 1925 Classical Pragmatism Classical Pragmatism from 1878 Cambridge Analysis Cambridge Analysis 1900 – 1939 Logical Atomism Logical Atomism 1918 – 1930 Vienna Circle Vienna Circle 1924 – 1936 Process Philosophy Process Philosophy from 1929 Ordinary Language Philosophy Ordinary Language Philosophy 1945 – 1970 Pittsburgh School (Sellarsian Realism) Pittsburgh School (Sellarsian Realism) from 1956 Objectivism Objectivism from 1957 Communitarianism Communitarianism from 1981

CThe hundred schools, and what came of them

Confucianism (classical) Confucianism (classical) from 500 BCE Mohism Mohism 470 BCE – 221 BCE Legalism (Fajia) Legalism (Fajia) 400 BCE – 200 BCE Daoism (Dao-jia) Daoism (Dao-jia) from 350 BCE School of Names (Logicians) School of Names (Logicians) 350 BCE – 220 BCE Yin-Yang School Yin-Yang School 350 BCE – 200 Huang-Lao School Huang-Lao School 250 BCE – 140 BCE School of Xuanxue (Neo-Daoism) School of Xuanxue (Neo-Daoism) 240 – 420 Tiantai Buddhism Tiantai Buddhism from 580 Chan (Zen) Buddhism (Chinese) Chan (Zen) Buddhism (Chinese) from 600 Huayan Buddhism Huayan Buddhism 640 – 900 Cheng-Zhu School Cheng-Zhu School from 1070 Lu-Wang School of Mind Lu-Wang School of Mind from 1180 Evidential Learning (Kaozheng) Evidential Learning (Kaozheng) 1650 – 1850 New Confucianism New Confucianism from 1920

CThe Latin and Greek churches, and after

Patristics Patristics 150 – 450 Augustinianism Augustinianism 400 – 1300 Christian Mysticism Christian Mysticism from 500 Early Scholasticism Early Scholasticism 1050 – 1250 Nominalism Nominalism from 1100 School of Chartres School of Chartres 1100 – 1200 Thomism Thomism from 1270 Natural Law Natural Law from 1270 Scotism Scotism from 1300 Ockhamism Ockhamism 1320 – 1500 Cambridge Platonism Cambridge Platonism 1630 – 1700 Jansenism Jansenism 1640 – 1790 Neo-Thomism Neo-Thomism from 1879 Personalism Personalism from 1900 Process Theology Process Theology from 1940

GIonia, Athens and the Hellenistic world

Milesian School Milesian School 600 BCE – 530 BCE Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism 530 BCE – 300 BCE Eleatic School Eleatic School 515 BCE – 430 BCE Heraclitean School Heraclitean School 500 BCE – 350 BCE Sophistic Movement Sophistic Movement 450 BCE – 380 BCE Atomism Atomism 440 BCE – 300 BCE Cynic school Cynic school 400 BCE – 500 Cyrenaic School Cyrenaic School 400 BCE – 250 BCE Megarian School Megarian School 400 BCE – 250 BCE Old Academy Old Academy 387 BCE – 266 BCE Peripatetic school (Aristotelianism) Peripatetic school (Aristotelianism) 335 BCE – 200 Pyrrhonian skepticism Pyrrhonian skepticism 320 BCE – 200 Epicureanism Epicureanism 307 BCE – 300 Early Stoicism Early Stoicism 301 BCE – 129 BCE Academic Skepticism Academic Skepticism 266 BCE – 80 BCE Middle Stoicism Middle Stoicism 150 BCE – 50 BCE Middle Platonism Middle Platonism 80 BCE – 220 Neoplatonism Neoplatonism 245 – 529

IThe six darshanas, and Buddhist and Jain thought

Carvaka (Lokayata) Carvaka (Lokayata) 600 BCE – 1200 Jainism (Syetvada/Anekantavada) Jainism (Syetvada/Anekantavada) from 550 BCE Ajīvika school Ajīvika school 500 BCE – 1400 Sāṃkhya school Sāṃkhya school from 400 BCE Early Theravada Buddhism Early Theravada Buddhism from 250 BCE Classical Yoga (Pātañjala) Classical Yoga (Pātañjala) from 200 BCE Nyaya Nyaya 200 BCE – 1700 Vaisheshika Vaisheshika 200 BCE – 1200 Purva Mimamsa Purva Mimamsa 200 BCE – 1700 Madhyamaka Buddhism Madhyamaka Buddhism from 150 Yogacara Buddhism Yogacara Buddhism from 300 Advaita Vedanta Advaita Vedanta from 700 Bhedabheda Vedanta Bhedabheda Vedanta from 700 Kashmir Shaivism Kashmir Shaivism 850 – 1300 Vishishtadvaita Vedanta Vishishtadvaita Vedanta from 1050 Dvaita Vedanta Dvaita Vedanta from 1250 Navya Nyaya Navya Nyaya 1300 – 1750 Neo-Vedanta Neo-Vedanta from 1890

IBaghdad, al-Andalus, Persia

Mu’tazila Mu’tazila 750 – 1050 Falsafa Falsafa 850 – 1200 Ash’arism Ash’arism from 920 Maturidism Maturidism from 930 Avicennism Avicennism 1000 – 1400 Averroism Averroism 1180 – 1600 Illuminationism (Ishraqism) Illuminationism (Ishraqism) from 1180 Ibn Arabi School Ibn Arabi School from 1200 School of Isfahan School of Isfahan 1570 – 1700 Transcendent Theosophy (Hikmat al-Muta’aliyah) Transcendent Theosophy (Hikmat al-Muta’aliyah) from 1630 Islamic Modernism Islamic Modernism from 1870

JZen, Seon and the native learning

Korean Seon Korean Seon from 800 Shingon Shingon from 806 Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo) Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo) from 1175 Rinzai Zen Rinzai Zen from 1191 Soto Zen Soto Zen from 1227 Nichiren School Nichiren School from 1253 Korean Toegye School Korean Toegye School from 1550 Silhak Silhak 1650 – 1850 Mito School Mito School 1657 – 1868 Kokugaku Kokugaku 1700 – 1868 Donghak Donghak from 1860 Philosophy of the Kyoto School Philosophy of the Kyoto School from 1911

JAlexandria, Iberia, central Europe

Philonism Philonism 20 BCE – 50 Jewish Neoplatonism Jewish Neoplatonism 950 – 1200 Maimonideanism Maimonideanism 1190 – 1500 Jewish Aristotelianism Jewish Aristotelianism 1200 – 1500 Lurianic Kabbalah Lurianic Kabbalah from 1570 Hasidic Philosophy Hasidic Philosophy from 1740 Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) 1770 – 1881 Musar Movement Musar Movement from 1840

LFrom the colonial scholastics to liberation

Latin American Scholasticism Latin American Scholasticism 1539 – 1700 Latin American Positivism Latin American Positivism 1860 – 1910 Mexican Hyperion Group Mexican Hyperion Group 1948 – 1952 Philosophy of Liberation Philosophy of Liberation from 1971 Modernity-Coloniality School Modernity-Coloniality School from 1998

MFrom the Renaissance to the twentieth century

Renaissance Humanism Renaissance Humanism 1350 – 1600 Hermeticism Hermeticism 1463 – 1700 Cartesianism Cartesianism 1637 – 1750 Spinozism Spinozism from 1677 French Materialism French Materialism 1745 – 1789 German Idealism German Idealism 1781 – 1831 Fichteanism Fichteanism 1794 – 1814 Naturphilosophie Naturphilosophie 1797 – 1840 Hegelianism Hegelianism from 1807 Hermeneutics Hermeneutics from 1819 French Spiritualism French Spiritualism 1820 – 1940 Young Hegelians Young Hegelians 1835 – 1848 Existentialism Existentialism from 1843 Classical Marxism Classical Marxism 1845 – 1920 Lebensphilosophie Lebensphilosophie 1870 – 1930 Neo-Kantianism Neo-Kantianism 1870 – 1930 Nietzscheanism Nietzscheanism from 1878 Phenomenology Phenomenology from 1900 Structuralism Structuralism 1916 – 1970 Frankfurt School (Critical Theory) Frankfurt School (Critical Theory) from 1923 Lacanian Psychoanalysis Lacanian Psychoanalysis from 1953 Situationism Situationism 1957 – 1972 Post-Structuralism Post-Structuralism from 1966

RThe Republic and the Empire

Roman Epicureanism Roman Epicureanism 100 BCE – 200 Eclecticism (Roman) Eclecticism (Roman) 80 BCE – 100 Roman Stoicism Roman Stoicism 50 BCE – 180 Latin Patristic Platonism Latin Patristic Platonism 300 – 525