Everyone has a philosophy even if we don’t know about it. Some are well defined, some not quite. Some are deep and well thought out while others could be a little shallow. We may not, at times, be able to express it in words but we all have our own philosophies. Let’s take a look at some of most recognized outlooks towards life, theorized by eminent philosophers over the world and find out which school of thought do we belong to. Hedonism – if pleasure is the only thing you live for. Hedonism is a philosophy that believes the only purpose of life is to gain pleasure. An ethical hedonist will do anything within his capacity to maximize the pleasures of life. Considering pleasure as the only intrinsically valuable aspect of life and living a life based on such terms does sound appealing. There are arguments against the philosophy deeming it superficial. However, there are variants of the school of thought that makes it more complex. For example, Epicurean Hedonism is the philosophical quest to reduce the anguish caused by life and the fear of death. The Paradox of Hedonism, however, lies in the argument that constant pursuing of pleasure hinders the process of actually experiencing it.

Animism – if you think there’s soul in objects too

If you think you can communicate with your guitar, your old toys, the books, there’s a school of though that actually believes in you. Animism is a philosophy that believes not only plants and animals but inanimate objects have souls too.

While many claim regal Animism as a primitive philosophy appealing to people unexposed to science and progress, there are physicists who have formed a bridge between science and Animism. American physicist and author, Nick Herbert, argues that consciousness is not just a property of biological and computational systems but is an integral aspect of the physical world.

Presentism – if you think the present is all that matters

According to this philosophical school of thought, there is nothing called the past or the future and the only thing that exists is the present moment. According to Saint Augustine, the future is imaginary, the past is just a perception and the present is like an edge of a knife between the two where the concept of time is not included.

Philosophers believe that time cannot be present and past at the same time which makes it un-extendable. Therefore, it can be said that the words you have just read on this page will cease to exist once you bounce off the page – only to exist again when you come back and read it again.