Aschool of thought, orintellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics ofopinion or outlook of aphilosophy,^[1]discipline,belief,social movement,economics,cultural movement, orart movement.^[2]

The phrase has become a common colloquialism which is used to describe those that think alike or those that focus on a common idea.^[3] The term's use is common place.^{[according to whom?][2]}

Schools are often characterized by their currency, and thus classified into "new" and "old" schools. There is a convention, in political and philosophical fields of thought, to have "modern" and "classical" schools of thought. An example is themodern andclassical liberals. This dichotomy is often a component ofparadigm shift. However, it is rarely the case that there are only two schools in any given field.

Schools are often named after their founders such as the "Rinzai school" ofZen, named afterLinji Yixuan; and theAsharite school ofearly Muslim philosophy, named afterAbu l'Hasan al-Ashari. They are often also named after their places of origin, such as theIonian school ofphilosophy, which originated inIonia; theChicago school ofarchitecture, which originated inChicago, Illinois; thePrague school of linguistics, named after a linguistic circle founded inPrague; and theTartu–Moscow Semiotic School, whose representatives lived inTartu andMoscow.

An example of a school of thought in Christianity (andGnosticism) isNeoplatonism, which has massively influencedChristian thought, fromAugustinianism toRenaissance/Humanism to the present day.^[4]

• Commentary of a philosophical text
• List of philosophies
• Mindset
• Paradigm
• Philosophical movement
• Worldview