The Six Schools (Ṣaḍ-Darśana)
Six 'viewpoints' that accept the Veda — the classical map on which all the great debates are drawn.
Classical Hindu philosophy is traditionally organized into six 'viewpoints' or schools (darśanas) that accept the authority of the Veda: Nyāya (logic and epistemology), Vaiśeṣika (the categories of nature and atomism), Sāṃkhya (the dualism of spirit and matter), Yoga (meditative discipline), Mīmāṃsā (the science of ritual and scriptural interpretation), and Vedānta (inquiry into the Upaniṣads' teaching on Brahman). Often paired off — Nyāya with Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhya with Yoga, Mīmāṃsā with Vedānta — they form the map within which the great debates unfold, set against the 'heterodox' systems (Buddhism, Jainism, Cārvāka) that reject Vedic authority.