Philosophies (4)

I believe the answer is:

isms

'philosophies' is the definition.
('ism' can be a synonym of 'philosophy')

This is all the clue.

(Other definitions for isms that I've seen before include "Informal doctrines - near miss" , "Informal suffixes for doctrines or practices, confused miss (4)" , "Distinctive doctrines" , "Distinctive theories" , "'Beliefs, philosophies (4)'" .)

I've seen this clue in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the L.A. Times Daily and the Ink Well xwords.

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