German idealism
The world as we know it is shaped by the activity of mind and spirit
Key ideas
- Kant: the mind itself supplies the forms of knowledge
- The categorical imperative
- Fichte: everything derives from the activity of the "I"
- Hegel: history is the unfolding of absolute spirit through contradiction
Key thinkers
- Immanuel Kant (founder) — German philosopher, 1724–1804
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte — German philosopher, 1762–1814
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel — German philosopher, 1770–1831
Grew out of
- Continental rationalism c. 1637 – 1750 · Europe
- British empiricism c. 1620 – 1780 · Europe
What grew out of it
- American transcendentalism c. 1836 – 1860 · Americas
- Russian religious philosophy c. 1840 – 1950 · Eastern Europe & Russia
- Existentialism c. since 1843 · Europe
- Marxism c. since 1848 · Europe
- Phenomenology c. since 1900 · Europe
- Kyoto School c. 1911 – 1990 · Asia
Meanwhile elsewhere
- Confucianism Asia
- Buddhist philosophy Asia
- Taoism Asia
- Nyaya Asia
- Madhyamaka Asia
- Yogachara Asia
- Chan and Zen Asia
- Advaita Vedanta Asia
- Kalam Middle East
- Neo-Confucianism Asia