How the quiz works, the philosophy behind it, and where the idea came from.
Examined is a philosophy alignment quiz. You answer 12 everyday moral dilemmas — no trolley tracks required — and find out which school of moral philosophy your instincts align with most. The result is a Philosopher ID card with your strengths, weaknesses, and reviews from other philosophers (they have opinions).
The name comes from Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Each answer in the quiz maps to one or more of these five major ethical frameworks. They represent genuinely different ways of thinking about right and wrong.
Approximate positions — real philosophy is messier than a 2D chart.
TLDR: If you wouldn't want everyone to do it, don't do it. No exceptions.
"Could I make this a rule for everyone?"
Actions are right or wrong in themselves, regardless of consequences. Kant's Categorical Imperative says you should only act according to rules you could will to be universal laws. Lying is always wrong — even if it saves lives — because a world where everyone lies is self-defeating.
Key work: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
TLDR: Do whatever helps the most people. Morality is math with feelings.
"What produces the most overall good?"
Only outcomes matter. The right action is the one that maximizes total happiness and minimizes total suffering. If lying saves five lives, you should lie. Morality is, at its core, a calculation — but a deeply compassionate one. Mill refined Bentham's original framework to distinguish between higher and lower pleasures.
Key work: Utilitarianism (1863)
TLDR: Be a good person and good actions will follow. Character over checklists.
"What would a good person do?"
Instead of asking "what's the rule?" or "what's the outcome?", virtue ethics asks "what kind of person should I be?" Morality is about cultivating excellent character traits — courage, honesty, compassion, temperance — through practice and habit. The "Golden Mean" says virtue lies between extremes.
Key work: Nicomachean Ethics (c. 340 BC)
TLDR: Only act on principles no one could reasonably say "that's unfair" to.
"Could anyone reasonably object to this?"
Morality is about what we owe to each other. An action is wrong if the principle behind it could be reasonably rejected by anyone affected. Unlike utilitarianism, you can't sacrifice one person for the many — every individual's objection matters. This is the framework at the heart of The Good Place.
Key work: What We Owe to Each Other (1998)
TLDR: There are no rules. You're free. That's the terrifying part.
"Am I choosing authentically?"
There are no pre-made moral rules waiting to be discovered. "Existence precedes essence" — you exist first, then define yourself through your choices. Following someone else's moral system to avoid the weight of decision is "bad faith." Freedom is terrifying, but it's all you have.
Key work: Being and Nothingness (1943)
Each of the 12 questions presents two choices. Each choice awards points to the philosophical schools it most closely aligns with (usually 2 points to a primary school and 1 to a secondary). Your top-scoring school becomes your Philosopher ID, and the combination of your top two schools determines your specific archetype (e.g., "The Absurd Knight" for Existentialist + Kantian).
There are 20 unique archetypes covering every primary-secondary combination, each with its own personality profile, strengths, weaknesses, and peer reviews.
This is a personality quiz, not a philosophy exam. The mappings are simplified for accessibility — real ethical reasoning is messier and more nuanced than any binary choice can capture.
Your result combines your top two schools into one of 20 unique archetypes, each with its own personality profile. See all 20 archetypes →
No. This is entertainment with an educational backbone. The philosophical schools are real and the mappings are defensible, but a 12-question quiz can't capture the full depth of any ethical tradition. Think of it as a starting point for curiosity, not a diagnosis.
They represent the major families of Western ethical thought that most people encounter in an intro-level philosophy course: duty-based (Kant), consequence-based (Mill), character-based (Aristotle), agreement-based (Scanlon), and freedom-based (Sartre). There are many other important traditions (care ethics, pragmatism, Ubuntu philosophy, Buddhist ethics) that a future version could include.
Yes — just retake the quiz. Your philosophical instincts might genuinely shift depending on your mood, recent experiences, or how much coffee you've had.
Every school links to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), which is the gold standard for accessible academic philosophy. For a more entertaining introduction, watch The Good Place — it's genuinely one of the best introductions to moral philosophy ever made for a popular audience.
This quiz was inspired by several things I love:
The philosophical content in this quiz draws from:
All links go to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Socrates believed the unexamined life is not worth living — and the unexamined quiz is not worth taking. If you spot an error, disagree with a categorization, or think Kant would be rolling in his grave, please open an issue on GitHub. Even Aristotle revised his lecture notes.