Nihilism means "nothing." It is the lack of belief in meaning or substance in an area of philosophy.

• Moral nihilism argues that moral facts cannot exist.
• Metaphysical nihilism argues that we cannot have spiritual facts.
• Existential nihilism is the idea ...

Stoicism was popular in ancient Greece and Rome and is practiced by many in high-stress environments.

Stoicism focuses on how to live in a world where things don't go as planned. The idea is to accept all the things beyond your control and to focus on what you can control.

Hedonism is the idea that pleasure and happiness are the keys to a good life. Modern philosophers would say that pleasure is a kind of happiness, but not the only happiness.

Epicurus tied hedonism to a virtue ethics system based around moderation and self-discipline.

It is focused on the idea of verifications. It is trying to base all knowledge on either empirical data or logical tautologies.

The underlying principle of verificationism cannot be shown to be true, making it unsolvable.

Rationalism is the idea that knowledge must come from reason and thought, rather than empirical evidence. Socrates, Rene Descartes, and Spinoza argued for rationalism.

Today, most thinkers combine rationalist notions with empirical data.

Existentialism originates from Soren Kierkegaard and Nietzche. It focuses on the problems produced by existential nihilism. For instance:

• What is the point of living if life has no inherent purpose? 
• How do we face the knowledge of our inevitable demise?

Taoism is based around the Tao Te Ching, written by the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. It is based around ideas of:

• humility
• the 'Way'
• a focus on the individual
• simplicity
• naturalness

Taoist thought later fused with Buddhism and formed ...

Relativism is the idea that views are relative to the perspective. This idea can be applied to morality or truth, where some argue that there are no moral facts or absolute truths.

Cultural relativism is the idea that the morality of two different cultures cannot be compare...