Schools of Thought
Philosophical Schools
Each school interpreted through six dimensions: Time, Space, Matter, Observer, Energy, and Information. Filter by attribute to discover patterns across traditions.
All 61 of 61 schools
Realism
Realism holds that reality exists independently of human perception and thought. Common-sense realism (G. E. Moore, J. L. Austin) defends the existence of ordinary objects against idealist skepticism; scientific realism (Hilary Putnam, Richard Boyd) extends this to the unobservable entities postulated by our best scientific theories.
Idealism
Idealism holds that reality is fundamentally mental or spiritual rather than material. George Berkeley's subjective idealism (esse est percipi — to be is to be perceived) makes mind the condition of all existence; German Idealism (Fichte, Hegel) extends this to the claim that Absolute Mind or Spirit constitutes and unfolds reality as a whole.
Existentialism
Existentialism emphasizes individual freedom, choice, and subjective experience. It posits that existence precedes essence, meaning that individuals create their own meaning and essence through their actions.
Pragmatism
Pragmatism focuses on practical consequences and real-world applications as the primary test of truth. It emphasizes the fluid and dynamic nature of reality.
Phenomenology
Phenomenology focuses on the structures of consciousness and the phenomena that appear in acts of consciousness. It seeks to explore the essence of experiences from the first-person perspective.
Relativism
Relativism posits that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration.
Determinism
Determinism holds that all events, including moral choices, are determined completely by previously existing causes. This is often contrasted with free will.
Presentism
Presentism is the philosophical doctrine that only the present is real, and the past and future are merely concepts used to describe real phenomena.
Eternalism
Eternalism posits that past, present, and future events are equally real. This view contrasts with presentism and suggests that time is another dimension similar to space.
Multiverse Theory
Multiverse Theory suggests that there are multiple, perhaps infinite, universes that exist in parallel with our own. Each universe may have different laws of physics and constants.
Simulation Theory
Simulation Theory posits that reality as we know it is an artificial simulation, possibly created by an advanced civilization.
Naturalism
Naturalism holds that everything arises from natural properties and causes; supernatural explanations are excluded as a matter of method. Post-quantum naturalism accepts irreducible indeterminism as a natural fact: not all events are fully determined by prior states, and this openness is built into the fabric of physical reality rather than requiring any non-natural cause.
Relationalism
Relationalism posits that space and time are not entities in themselves but merely a system of relations among objects. This view contrasts with substantivalism, which treats space and time as entities.
Quantum Realism
Quantum Realism suggests that reality is fundamentally quantum in nature, governed by the principles of quantum mechanics. This view often involves the idea that particles do not have definite states until they are observed.
Dualism
Dualism posits that reality consists of two fundamental and distinct substances: the physical (matter) and the non-physical (mind or spirit). This view contrasts with monism, which holds that only one kind of substance exists.
Panpsychism
Panpsychism is the view that consciousness, mind, or soul is a universal and primordial feature of all things. This view suggests that everything has a mental aspect.
Pragmatic Realism
Pragmatic Realism combines elements of realism and pragmatism, suggesting that reality exists independently of our thoughts but our understanding of it is shaped by practical consequences and human purposes.
Process Philosophy
Process Philosophy emphasizes becoming and change over static being. It posits that reality is characterized by dynamic processes rather than unchanging substances.
Structuralism
Philosophical Structuralism (specifically Ontic Structural Realism, developed by James Ladyman and Steven French) holds that the fundamental furniture of the physical world consists entirely of structures — patterns of relations — rather than intrinsically characterized objects. This is distinct from linguistic or anthropological structuralism (Lévi-Strauss, Saussure), which concerns cultural sign-systems rather than the structure of physical reality.
Postmodernism
Postmodernism challenges the idea of a single, objective reality, suggesting instead that reality is fragmented and subjective, constructed through language and cultural contexts.
Dialectical Materialism
Dialectical Materialism, a Marxist concept, views reality as a dynamic and contradictory process driven by material conditions and class struggles.
Absurdism
Absurdism, as articulated by Albert Camus, holds that human beings are driven by a deep need for meaning, clarity, and purpose, yet inhabit a universe that offers none — a conflict Camus calls "the absurd." The appropriate response is neither suicide nor a leap of faith but revolt: living fully in the face of meaninglessness. Other people share the absurd condition, though each confronts it alone.
Phenomenalism
Phenomenalism suggests that physical objects and events are reducible to sensory experiences and that reality consists of phenomena as perceived by the senses.
Critical Realism
Critical Realism combines a realist ontology (the belief that reality exists independently of our perceptions) with a critical epistemology (the belief that our knowledge of reality is always mediated by social and cultural factors).
Empiricism
Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes primarily from sensory experience. This school of thought emphasizes the role of observation and experimentation in understanding reality.
Rationalism
Rationalism posits that reason and logic are the primary sources of knowledge and truth. This school of thought often contrasts with empiricism.
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism advocates for the inherent goodness of both people and nature, stressing self-reliance, intuition, and independence. It holds that a spiritual reality transcends the empirical and scientific, accessible through individual intuition and immersion in the natural world.
Solipsism
Solipsism is the view that only the observer's own mind can be known to exist with certainty. The external world, other minds, and even one's own body may be nothing more than representations within one's consciousness. It is the most extreme observer-centric position.
Buddhism
Buddhism emphasizes the impermanence (anicca) of all phenomena, the absence of a fixed self (anattā), and the reality of suffering (dukkha), which arises from attachment to what is impermanent. Liberation (nirvana) is achieved through the cessation of craving and the recognition of reality as it truly is.
Kantian Transcendental Idealism
Kantian Transcendental Idealism holds that space and time are not features of things-in-themselves but are forms of the human intuition through which we organize experience. Reality as we know it (the phenomenal world) is structured by the mind; the thing-in-itself (noumenon) remains unknowable.
Stoicism
Stoicism holds that reality is governed by a rational, divine principle called the Logos, which pervades and structures all of nature. Everything that happens is determined by fate (providence), and the good life consists in living in accordance with nature and reason, accepting what cannot be changed.
Constructivism
Constructivism holds that knowledge and reality are not discovered but actively constructed through cognitive, social, and cultural processes. There is no mind-independent reality to which our representations directly correspond; what we take to be "real" is shaped by the frameworks we use to organize experience.
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta holds that the ultimate reality is Brahman — pure, undivided, infinite consciousness — and that the individual self (Atman) is ultimately identical with Brahman. The apparent multiplicity and materiality of the world is due to maya (cosmic illusion). Liberation (moksha) is the realization of this non-dual identity.
Catholic/Thomistic
Catholic/Thomistic philosophy synthesizes Aristotelian metaphysics with Christian theology. It holds that reality is composed of matter and form (hylomorphism), that all things participate in being according to their nature, and that God — pure act (actus purus) — created all things ex nihilo as the unmoved mover and ground of all being.
Nihilism
Nihilism holds that reality has no inherent meaning, purpose, structure, or knowable properties. In its strongest form, it denies that objective truths, values, or entities exist. Metaphysical nihilism denies that anything exists; epistemological nihilism denies that anything can be known; moral nihilism denies that any values are real.
Reformed / Calvinist Theology
Reformed theology holds that the triune God of Scripture is the sovereign creator and sustainer of all things. God creates time, space, matter, and energy ex nihilo, and governs every event by his providence — including human choices, which are nonetheless real and responsible. Human knowledge is creaturely and derivative; only God possesses exhaustive omniscience. The observer is embodied, finite, and called to image God through active moral engagement within creation.
Neo-Platonism
Neo-Platonism, systematized by Plotinus in the Enneads, holds that all reality emanates hierarchically from a single, ineffable principle — the One — downward through Nous (divine intellect) and Soul to the material world. Matter is the lowest emanation, barely real; the path of wisdom is the Soul's return (epistrophe) to the One through contemplation. Time, in the famous phrase of Plotinus, is "the moving image of eternity."
Analytic Metaphysics / Logical Atomism
Logical Atomism (Bertrand Russell, early Wittgenstein) holds that the world consists of logically independent atomic facts, mirrored in the elementary propositions of an ideal logical language. Quine's naturalistic analytic metaphysics continues this tradition: ontology is continuous with science, the basic entities are whatever scientific theory is quantified over, and philosophy's task is logical analysis and ontological economy.
Logical Positivism
Logical Positivism (the Vienna Circle) held that a statement is meaningful only if it is either analytically true (by definition) or empirically verifiable in principle. Metaphysics, theology, and ethics — being neither — were dismissed as cognitively meaningless. The movement sought to unify all genuine knowledge under the model of the natural sciences, using formal logic as the instrument of conceptual clarification.
Taoism
Taoism holds that all reality flows from and returns to the Tao — the nameless, ungraspable source and pattern of all things. The sage embodies wu wei (non-action): moving with the natural flow of the Tao rather than imposing artificial structures on it. Knowledge is not discursive but intuitive; language and concepts cannot capture the Tao. Yin and yang cycle continuously; the ten thousand things arise, flourish, and return to the root.
Confucianism
Confucianism holds that moral cultivation — the development of ren (benevolence), yi (righteousness), and li (ritual propriety) — is both the path to personal virtue and the foundation of social and political order. Human beings are essentially relational: the self is realized only through its proper relationships to others. Heaven (Tian) ordains a moral order that humans are called to embody; history moves, however haltingly, toward virtue and harmony.
Jainism / Anekantavada
Jainism holds that reality is multi-faceted (anekantavada) and cannot be captured by any single perspective. A strict dualism obtains between jiva (soul) and ajiva (non-soul). Matter (pudgala) is atomic and eternal, time is a real substance (kala), and both permanence and impermanence are simultaneously real aspects of every entity.
Samkhya
Samkhya is an atheistic dualism positing two eternal realities: Purusha (passive, plural consciousness) and Prakriti (active, unconscious primordial matter). All material and mental phenomena evolve from Prakriti through the interplay of three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas), while Purusha remains the uninvolved witness.
Occasionalism
Occasionalism holds that no created substance possesses genuine causal power. God alone is the true cause of every event at every instant; what we perceive as natural causation is merely the regularity of God's habitual willing. Creatures provide the "occasion" for God's action but never the cause.
Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO)
Object-Oriented Ontology maintains that all objects — human, animal, mineral, artificial — exist equally and independently, each withdrawing from full access by any other entity. Human perception holds no privileged position. Reality is a flat ontology in which consciousness is not elevated above matter.
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism practices complete suspension of judgment (epoche) about all non-evident matters. For every argument, an equally strong counter-argument can be found. The Pyrrhonist neither affirms nor denies any claim about the hidden nature of reality, seeking tranquility (ataraxia) through the cessation of dogmatic belief.
Sufism / Wahdat al-Wujud
Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being) holds that only God (al-Haqq) truly exists. Creation possesses borrowed, derivative existence — real but not self-sustaining. The world is God's perpetual self-disclosure (tajalli), and the mystic's journey is the recognition that all apparent multiplicity is a theophany of the One.
Kabbalah (Lurianic)
Lurianic Kabbalah teaches that God (Ein Sof) created reality through Tzimtzum — a primordial contraction or withdrawal of infinite light to make room for finite existence. Reality is structured through the Sefirot (divine emanations), and humanity participates in Tikkun (cosmic repair) by gathering the scattered sparks of divine light trapped in material shells (kelipot).
Hylomorphism
Hylomorphism holds that every physical entity is a composite of matter (hyle) and form (morphe). Matter without form is pure potentiality, lacking any determinate character. Form is the intrinsic organizing principle that makes a thing what it is, and the union of matter and form is neither reducible to its parts nor merely aggregative.
Neutral Monism
Neutral Monism holds that the fundamental substance of reality is neither mental nor physical but a third, neutral kind. Mind and matter are co-equal aspects or arrangements of this underlying neutral stuff, which is more basic than either the mental or the physical considered in isolation.
Yogacara
Yogacara (Consciousness-Only) holds that all phenomena are transformations of consciousness (vijnapti-matra) with no external material world. Experience arises from the maturation of seeds (bija) stored in the alaya-vijnana (storehouse consciousness), which is shared across beings and perpetuates the appearance of an objective world.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism posits a cosmic dualism between Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord, the source of truth and goodness) and Angra Mainyu (Destructive Spirit, the source of lies and evil). Time is finite and purposeful, moving toward the Frashokereti — the final renovation in which evil is destroyed and creation is perfected. Human beings are moral agents whose choices in the cosmic battle between asha (truth) and druj (falsehood) matter eschatologically.
Deep Ecology
Deep Ecology holds that all living beings possess intrinsic value independent of their utility to humans. The self is an "ecological self" whose identity is constituted by its relationships with the entire biotic community. Reality is fundamentally relational; individual identity is an abstraction from the web of ecological relationships that sustain all life.
Dataism / Information Ontology
Dataism holds that reality is fundamentally information or computation. Matter, energy, space, and time are emergent expressions of underlying information-processing. Consciousness is an algorithm; physics is a set of computational rules. Wheeler's "It from Bit" thesis asserts that every physical quantity derives its existence from information — from bits, from yes-or-no questions.
Animism / Relational-Indigenous Worldview
Animism understands the natural world as populated by persons — animal persons, plant persons, river persons, mountain persons — each possessing agency, interiority, and relational standing. Space is sacred and directional, imbued with meaning and story. Time is cyclical and non-linear, woven through ancestral narrative and seasonal return.
Ubuntu / African Communal Ontology
"I am because we are" (umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu). Ubuntu holds that personhood is constituted by communal relations rather than individual substance. Reality is a dynamic web of vital forces connecting the living, the ancestors, and the yet-to-be-born. Being is fundamentally participatory: to exist is to be in relation.
Transhumanism / Posthumanism
Transhumanism holds that the human condition — mortality, cognitive limitation, physical frailty — is a temporary engineering problem rather than a fixed essence. The observer is fundamentally mutable and upgradable. Embodiment, mortality, and cognitive limits are contingent features that technology can and should transcend.
Psychedelic / Entheogenic Worldview
The psychedelic worldview holds that ordinary waking consciousness is a narrow filter on a vaster, multidimensional reality. Altered states of consciousness — induced by entheogens, meditation, or breathwork — reveal deeper layers of existence normally screened out. The observer's state of consciousness determines which layer of reality is accessible.
Afrofuturism / Black Quantum Futurism
Afrofuturism and Black Quantum Futurism hold that time is culturally constituted and actively manipulable. Past, present, and future are simultaneously accessible through creative and communal practice. History is not fixed but can be rewritten, reclaimed, and reimagined; the future is an open field of liberatory possibility.
Gamer / Virtual-Realist Worldview
The Gamer or Virtual-Realist worldview treats multiple simultaneous realities as normal and navigable. Physics is rule-set-dependent and varies across worlds. Identity is avatar-based, mutable, and plural. Consciousness can exist across multiple substrates, and the distinction between "real" and "virtual" is a spectrum rather than a binary.
Wellness / Energetic Worldview
The Wellness or Energetic worldview holds that reality is fundamentally energy or vibration, and that consciousness can directly perceive and manipulate this energy. The body possesses an energy system (chakras, meridians, aura) that mediates between mind and matter. Health, reality, and experience are shaped by energetic alignment, intention, and the law of attraction.