Philosophy is usually studied by the way of two different methodologies. The first is from a historical vantage. The second is by classifications of schools of thought. Each method has its own merit, and to truly understand a philosophy, one should be familiar with the inter-relationship of both of these dynamics.

 

  A historical perspective of philosophy focuses on the external factors of the culture that produced a given philosophy. This helps to  give the student a perspective into the society from which a philosophy was written. In general, this is the method by which students are introduced to the topic, because it gives the subject a personality.

 

  Schools of thought  catagorize the similarities and differences of philosophy throughout history. From this we can see where an arguement is going, based on the school it follows. This is helpful,  in that it builds a familiarity with the topic from a single key word, much like a search engine. It is generally a more advanced study of the topic.