school of thought

school of thought

n. pl. schools of thought A point of view held by a particular group: "We have many schools of thought in the intelligence services" (Tom Clancy).

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

school of thought - a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or schooldoctrine, ism, philosophical system, philosophynuclear deterrence - the military doctrine that an enemy will be deterred from using nuclear weapons as long as he can be destroyed as a consequence; "when two nations both resort to nuclear deterrence the consequence could be mutual destruction"belief - any cognitive content held as trueCabalism, Kabbalism - the doctrines of the Kabbalahabolitionism - the doctrine that calls for the abolition of slaveryabsolutism - the doctrine of an absolute beingamoralism - the doctrine that moral distinctions are invalidanimalism - the doctrine that human beings are purely animal in nature and lacking a spiritual natureanimism - the doctrine that all natural objects and the universe itself have souls; "animism is common among primitive peoples"antiestablishmentarianism, antiestablishmentism - the doctrine of opposition to the social and political establishmentasceticism - the doctrine that through renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual statecontextualism - any doctrine emphasizing the importance of the context in solving problems or establishing the meaning of termscreationism - the literal belief in the account of Creation given in the Book of Genesis; "creationism denies the theory of evolution of species"credo, creed - any system of principles or beliefsdivine right, divine right of kings - the doctrine that kings derive their right to rule directly from God and are not accountable to their subjects; rebellion is the worst of political crimes; "the doctrine of the divine right of kings was enunciated by the Stuarts in Britain in the 16th century"dogma - a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative; "he believed all the Marxist dogma"dualism - the doctrine that reality consists of two basic opposing elements, often taken to be mind and matter (or mind and body), or good and evildynamism - any of the various theories or doctrines or philosophical systems that attempt to explain the phenomena of the universe in terms of some immanent force or energyepicureanism - a doctrine of hedonism that was defended by several ancient Greek philosophersestablishmentarianism, establishmentism - the doctrine of supporting the social or political establishmentethicism - a doctrine that ethics and ethical ideas are valid and important; "his ethicism often led him to moralize"expansionism - the doctrine of expanding the territory or the economic influence of a countryformalism - the doctrine that formal structure rather than content is what should be representedfunctionalism - any doctrine that stresses utility or purposeGirondism - the doctrine of the Girondistsgospel - a doctrine that is believed to be of great importance; "Newton's writings were gospel for those who followed"gymnosophy - the doctrine of a sect of Hindu philosophers who practiced nudity and asceticism and meditationimitation - the doctrine that representations of nature or human behavior should be accurate imitationslaissez faire, individualism - the doctrine that government should not interfere in commercial affairsinternationalism - the doctrine that nations should cooperate because their common interests are more important than their differencesunilateralism - the doctrine that nations should conduct their foreign affairs individualistically without the advice or involvement of other nationsirredentism, irridentism - the doctrine that irredenta should be controlled by the country to which they are ethnically or historically relatedliteralism - the doctrine of realistic (literal) portrayal in art or literaturemajority rule, democracy - the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole groupmonism - the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or elementmulticulturalism - the doctrine that several different cultures (rather than one national culture) can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single countrynationalism - the doctrine that your national culture and interests are superior to any othernationalism - the doctrine that nations should act independently (rather than collectively) to attain their goalsnihilism - a revolutionary doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system for its own sakepacificism, pacifism, passivism - the doctrine that all violence is unjustifiablepluralism - the doctrine that reality consists of several basic substances or elementspopulism - the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elitepresentism - the doctrine that the Scripture prophecies of the Apocalypse (as in the Book of Revelations) are presently in the course of being fulfilledfreethinking, rationalism - the doctrine that reason is the right basis for regulating conduct