Schools

The philosophy of Plato and his successors, centred on the reality of unchanging Forms that the physical world imperfectly reflects.

School founded by Epicurus in Athens, teaching that tranquil pleasure is the goal of life and that the world consists of atoms moving in the void.

Hellenistic school founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium, teaching that virtue, a life in agreement with nature and reason, is the only good.

Late ancient revival of Plato's philosophy, begun by Plotinus, which described all reality as flowing from a single first principle, the One.

The method of philosophy and theology in the medieval universities, which used careful logical analysis to reconcile Christian doctrine with reason and Aristotle.

The view that reason, rather than the senses, is the chief source and test of knowledge.

The view that knowledge comes ultimately from experience, rather than from reason alone.

Chinese tradition, rooted in the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, that seeks to live in accord with the dao, the natural way, through spontaneity and non-action.

The tradition descending from Confucius, which holds that personal cultivation of virtue and proper ritual conduct are the basis of a harmonious society.

Movement founded by Mozi that argued for impartial care, condemned aggressive war, and pioneered systematic argument in Chinese philosophy.