NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.: Thinkers and Schools

Get top class preparation for competitive exams right from your home: get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of your exam.

Table Supporting: NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, Etc.) , GATE, CUET, Olympiads Etc. : Thinkers and Schools
ThinkerEpistemologyMetaphysicsTheorySchool
ThalesN/AWaterN/AMilesian
AnaximanderN/ABoundless SomethingN/AMilesian
AnaximenesN/AAirRarefaction, CondenMilesian
HeraclitusN/AFire, ChangeN/AN/A
PythagorasN/ANumbersN/AN/A
ParmenidesN/ABeingN/AEleatics
ZenoN/ANo plurality & Paradoxes of MotionEleaticsEmpedocles
N/A4 earth, water, fire & AirLove-Hate for union disunion of elementsEleaticsAnaxagoras
N/AInfiniteRelative change, NousEleaticsDemocritus
N/AAtomN/AEleaticsPlato
Knowledge of Ideas only. 2 kinds of knowledge episteme (know.) and doxa (opinion)Ideas. Demiurge creating the world & Soul rational, spirited, appetitiveN/AIdealismAristotle
Sciences- (logic, theoretical, practical, productive) , No platonic ideas.Form + Matter, 4 causes (material, formal, efficient, final)God Unmoved MoverActive-Passive Intellect, Eudaimonia (self-realization) , Golden Mean.N/A
DescartesNo innate ideas, Primary-Secondary QualitiesGod = Mind, BodyCogito ergo sumDualism
SpinozaKnow. As adequate ideas, Coherence theory of truth, 3 grades-inadequate ideas, clear ideas, intuitive knowledgeGod ⇾ (Mind-Body) , attributes ⇾ thought-extension (modes) Natura naturata atemporal Natura naturans-temporalParallelismPantheism & Spiritual Monism
LeibnitzInnate ideas, Truths of reason and matters of fact.Monads-forces, metaphysical points, infinite, windowless, kinds sleeping (material) , dreaming (living) , waking (human) . Activities of monads perception & appetition & God Monas MonadumPrinciple of sufficient reason, Principle of Continuity, Law of identity of indiscernibles, Pre-established HarmonyN/A
LockeNo innate ideas, Abstract ideas-yes, simple-complex ideas, Primary-Secondary qualities (SI) , Modes-Substances-Relations (CI) , Degrees of know. intuitive, demonstrative, sensitive (sensation & reflection)N/AAgreement & disagreement between ideas.Representative Realism, Scientific Realism
BerkeleyNo abstract ideas, No distinction between primary-secondary qualities.Only ideas, no matter, God-ultimate substanceEsse ist percipiSubjective Idealism
HumeImpression-Ideas (relations of ideas, matters of facts) , No abstract ideas.No God, No Self.N/ASkepticism
KantKnowledge Of synthetic a priori judgments, conditions of know space-time.Noumenon-phenomenon12 Categories of Understanding & Transcendental Unity of ApperceptionTranscendental Idealism
HegelIdeas as objective, 3 levels of knowledge general, ideational and philosophicalAbsolute IdeaDialectical Evolution of Idea thesis, anti-thesis, synthesisObjective Idealism