ΦTHALASSAJournal of Philosophy

Ways of Seeing

Schools of Thought

Traditions are not sealed rooms. They are arguments conducted across centuries—revised, opposed, and rediscovered.

Side by side

Compare two traditions

Set any two schools against each other under the same headings: where each began, what each claims, who wrote for it, and the standing objection to it.

Ruined columns of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi on its mountain terrace

Mediterranean Foundations

Philosophy as a way of life

For many ancient schools, philosophy was not merely a body of theory. It was a practiced discipline shaping attention, desire, friendship, citizenship, and one’s response to fortune.

01

Stoicism

Virtue, agency, and living according to nature.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

02

Epicureanism

Tranquility through friendship, prudence, and modest pleasure.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

03

Platonism

Reason’s ascent toward stable truth, beauty, and the good.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

04

Aristotelianism

Flourishing through cultivated character and practical wisdom.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

05

Cynicism

Freedom through radical simplicity and convention’s critique.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

06

Existentialism

Freedom, responsibility, and meaning made through choice.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

07

Absurdism

Lucid revolt before the world’s silence.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

08

Nihilism

A diagnosis of collapsing foundations and values.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

09

Rationalism

Reason as a principal source of knowledge.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

10

Empiricism

Experience as the ground and limit of knowledge.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

11

Utilitarianism

Consequences, welfare, and the greatest overall good.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

12

Humanism

Human dignity, agency, and shared flourishing.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

13

Marxism

History and society interpreted through material relations.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

14

Pragmatism

Ideas tested through inquiry and practical consequences.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

15

Skepticism

Suspended judgement, inquiry, and relief from dogmatic certainty.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

16

Scholasticism

Medieval disputation joining logic, theology, Aristotle, and law.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

17

Social Contract

Political authority justified through consent, security, and obligation.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

18

Liberalism

Rights, toleration, individuality, and limits on coercive power.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

19

Feminism

Freedom and equality examined through gender, power, body, and law.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

20

Confucianism

Ritual, humane conduct, education, family roles, and exemplary rule.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

21

Political Realism

Power, fortune, fear, and institutions viewed without consoling illusion.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

22

Islamic Philosophy

Greek demonstration rebuilt in Arabic, and the question of what revelation and proof owe each other.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works

23

German Idealism

Freedom, history, and the claim that thought develops through its own contradictions.

Questions · Thinkers · Essential works