Wiktionary
n. An opinion subscribed to by some connected or arbitrary group.
WordNet
n. a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school [syn: doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, ism]
Wikipedia
A school of thought (or intellectual tradition) is a collection or group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement.
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 the modern and classical liberals. This dichotomy is often a component of paradigm 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" of Zen named after Linji Yixuan and the Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy named after Abu l'Hasan al-Ashari. They are often also named after their places of origin, such as the Ionian School of philosophy that originated in Ionia and the Chicago school of architecture that originated in Chicago, Illinois and the Prague School of linguistics, named after a linguistic circle found in Prague, or Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School whose representatives lived in Tartu and Moscow.
Usage examples of "school of thought".
Another school of thought put forth the so-called Technical Explanation.
Myles, being prejudiced in the school of thought of his day, rebelled not a little at that last branch of his studies.
There is a school of thought which maintains that it is bad for a lawn to be too closely cropped when the first frost comes.
It was time to come out into the open, to preach his new school of thought unfettered by anyone else's rules.
He had never belonged to the school of thought that recommended approaching the French coast below the radar screen.
Unless you subscribe to the rather Machiavellian school of thought that giving credit to others is just a sneaky way of damning them with faint praise.
In fact, there was one school of thought among the Germans that such an emotional attachment was necessary for the patient's recovery, that only someone who was beloved could be trusted with the most intimate secrets.
In fact, there was one school of thought among the Germans that such an emotional attachment was necessary for the patient's recovery, that only some.
In time she would have completed her development and would have taken her rightful place in the School of Thought.