1) Empiricism is the theory that the origin of all knowledge is sense

experience. It emphasizes the role of experience andevidence,

especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, and argues that
the only knowledge humans can have is a posteriori (i.e. based on
experience). Most empiricists also discount the notion of innate
ideas or innatism (the idea that the mind is born with ideas or knowledge
and is not a "blank slate" at birth).
In order to build a more complex body of knowledge from these direct
observations, induction or inductive reasoning (makinggeneralizations based
on individual instances) must be used. This kind of knowledge is therefore
also known as indirect empirical knowledge.
Empiricism is contrasted with Rationalism, the theory that the mind may
apprehend some truths directly, without requiring the medium of the senses.
The term "empiricism" has a dual etymology, stemming both from the Greek
word for "experience" and from the more specific classical Greek and Roman
usage of "empiric", referring to a physician whose skill derives from practical
experience as opposed to instruction in theory (this was it's first usage).
Rationalism is a philosophical movement which gathered momentum during
the Age of Reason of the 17th Century. It is usually associated with the
introduction of mathematical methods into philosophy during this period by
the major rationalist figures,Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza. The
preponderance of French Rationalists in the 18th Century Age of
Enlightenment, includingVoltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Charles de
Secondat (Baron de Montesquieu) (1689 - 1755), is often known as French
Rationalism.
2) Rationalism is any view appealing to intellectual and deductive reason (as
opposed to sensory experience or any religious teachings) as the source
of knowledge or justification. Thus, it holds that some propositions are
knowable by us by intuitionalone, while others are knowable by
being deduced through valid arguments from intuited propositions. It relies
on the idea that reality has a rational structure in that all aspects of it can be
grasped through mathematical and logical principles, and not simply
through sensory experience.
3) German idealism is the name of a movement in German philosophy that
began in the 1780s and lasted until the 1840s. The most famous
representatives of this movement are Kant, Fichte,Schelling, and Hegel.

While there are important differences between these figures, they all share a
commitment to idealism. Kants transcendental idealism was a modest
philosophical doctrine about the difference between appearances and things
in themselves, which claimed that the objects of human cognition are
appearances and not things in themselves. Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel
radicalized this view, transforming Kants transcendental idealism into
absolute idealism, which holds that things in themselves are a contradiction
in terms, because a thing must be an object of our consciousness if it is to be
an object at all.
German idealism is remarkable for its systematic treatment of all the major
parts of philosophy, including logic, metaphysics and epistemology, moral
and political philosophy, and aesthetics. All of the representatives of German
idealism thought these parts of philosophy would find a place in a general
system of philosophy.
4) Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim
that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the
meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of
accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected. Pragmatism
originated in the United States during the latter quarter of the nineteenth
century. Although it has significantly influenced non-philosophersnotably in
the fields of law, education, politics, sociology, psychology, and literary
criticismthis article deals with it only as a movement within philosophy.
The term pragmatism was first used in print to designate a philosophical
outlook about a century ago when William James (1842-1910) pressed the
word into service during an 1898 address entitled Philosophical Conceptions
and Practical Results, delivered at the University of California (Berkeley).
James scrupulously swore, however, that the term had been coined almost
three decades earlier by his compatriot and friend C. S. Peirce (1839-1914).
(Peirce, eager to distinguish his doctrines from the views promulgated by
James, later relabeled his own position pragmaticisma name, he said,
ugly enough to be safe from kidnappers.) The third major figure in the
classical pragmatist pantheon is John Dewey (1859-1952), whose wideranging writings had considerable impact on American intellectual life for a
half-century. After Dewey, however, pragmatism lost much of its momentum
5) Logical positivism and logical empiricism, which together
formed neopositivism, was a movement in Western philosophy that
embraced verificationism, an approach that sought to legitimize

philosophical discourse on a basis shared with the best examples

of empirical sciences. In this theory of knowledge, only statements verifiable
either logically or empirically would be cognitively meaningful. Efforts to
convert philosophy to this new scientific philosophy were intended to prevent
confusion rooted in unclear language and unverifiable claims
logical positivism differs from earlier forms
of empiricism and positivism (e.g., that of David Hume andErnst Mach) in
holding that the ultimate basis of knowledge rests upon public experimental
verification or confirmation rather than upon personal experience. It differs
from the philosophies of Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill in holding that
metaphysical doctrines are not false but meaninglessthat the great
unanswerable questions about substance, causality, freedom, and God are
unanswerable just because they are not genuine questions at all. This last is
a thesis about language, not about nature, and is based upon a general
account of meaning and of meaninglessness. All genuine philosophy
(according to the group that came to be called the Vienna Circle) is a critique
of language, and (according to some of its leading members) its result is to
show the unity of sciencethat all genuine knowledge about nature can be
expressed in a single language common to all the sciences.
6) Linguistic philosophy describes the view that philosophical problems are
problems which may be solved (or dissolved) either by reforming language,
or by understanding more about the language we presently use.[1] The
former position is that of ideal language philosophy, the latter the position
of ordinary language philosophy.
Philosophy of linguistics is the philosophy of science as applied to linguistics.
This differentiates it sharply from the philosophy of language, traditionally
concerned with matters of meaning and reference.
7) existentialism is a catch-all term for those philosophers who consider the
nature of the human condition as a key philosophical problem and who share
the view that this problem is best addressed through ontology. This very
broad definition will be clarified by discussing seven key themes that
existentialist thinkers address. Those philosophers considered existentialists
are mostly from the continent of Europe, and date from the 19th and
20th centuries. Outside philosophy, the existentialist movement is probably
the most well-known philosophical movement, and at least two of its
members are among the most famous philosophical personalities and widely
read philosophical authors. It has certainly had considerable influence

outside philosophy, for example on psychological theory and on the arts.

Within philosophy, though, it is safe to say that this loose movement
considered as a whole has not had a great impact, although individuals or
ideas counted within it remain important. Moreover, most of the philosophers
conventionally grouped under this heading either never used, or actively
disavowed, the term 'existentialist'. Even Sartre himself once said:
Existentialism? I dont know what that is. So, there is a case to be made
that the term insofar as it leads us to ignore what is distinctive about
philosophical positions and to conflate together significantly different ideas
does more harm than good.
8) In its central use "phenomenology" names a movement in twentieth
century philosophy. A second use of "phenomenology" common in
contemporary philosophy names a property of some mental states, the
property they have if and only if there is something it is like to be in them.
Thus, it is sometimes said that emotional states have a phenomenology
while belief states do not. For example, while there is something it is like to
be angry, there is nothing it is like to believe that Paris is in France. Although
the two uses of "phenomenology" are related, it is the first which is the
current topic. Accordingly, "phenomenological" refers to a way of doing
philosophy that is more or less closely related to the corresponding
movement. Phenomenology utilizes a distinctive method to study the
structural features of experience and of things as experienced. It is primarily
a descriptive discipline and is undertaken in a way that is largely
independent of scientific, including causal, explanations and accounts of the
nature of experience. Topics discussed within the phenomenological tradition
include the nature of intentionality, perception, time-consciousness,selfconsciousness, awareness of the body and consciousness of others.
Phenomenology is to be distinguished from phenomenalism, a position in
epistemology which implies that all statements about physical objects are
synonymous with statements about persons having certain sensations
orsense-data. George Berkeley was a phenomenalist but not a
phenomenologist.
9) skepticism (or Scepticism in the UK spelling), also known
as Pyrrhonism or Pyrrhonic Skepticism after the early proponentPyrrho of Elis,
is the philosophical position that one should refrain from making truth claims,
and avoid the postulation of final truths. This is not necessarily quite the
same as claiming that truth is impossible (which would itself be a truth
claim), but is often also used to cover the position that there is no such thing

as certainty in human knowledge (sometimes referred to asAcademic

Skepticism).
The term is derived from the Greek verb "skeptomai" (which means "to look
carefully, to reflect"), and the early Greek Skeptics were known as
the Skeptikoi. In everyday usage, Skepticism refers to an attitude
of doubt or incredulity, either in general or toward a particular object, or to
any doubting or questioning attitude or state of mind. It is effectively the
opposite ofdogmatism, the idea that established beliefs are not to be
disputed, doubted or diverged from.
In philosophy, it can refer to:

an inquiry
the limitations of knowledge
a method of obtaining knowledge through systematic doubt and
continual testing
the arbitrariness, relativity, or subjectivity of moral values
a method of intellectual caution and suspended judgment