intellectual movements

Intellectual movements are shared currents of thought that develop among thinkers, writers, and scholars around common ideas or principles.

The Enlightenment, existentialism, and postmodernism are intellectual movements.

Unlike political movements, they don't necessarily seek power or policy change—they reshape how people understand the world: The intellectual movements of the 1960s challenged traditional academic disciplines.

A movement may span decades or centuries and cross national boundaries.