i agree with this. although i would like to point out that a lot of philosophies are based upon a single simple idea. some groups are labeled by an idea they have that applies in all (or most) situations. for instance i am an old fashioned liberal. the term liberal means i stand for freedom. my idea is that autonomy is very important and that it exists in a spectrum from true liberty (you can do whatever it is you can do, a state of anarchy that is bad for social order), to complete slavery with an absence of choices at all (totalitarianism). in my liberal perspective, it is always better to be more free, but freedom must be traded off for social order. in order for a law to have legitimacy the freedom it gives up must be "worth" the security and improvements of life it gives (it must be a net benefit). if it is net neutral than freedom is preferable to order and security.

so it is an idea, but an idea ends up creating an ideology. as such i get along with other people who are liberal minded. having the title liberal is useful to help find other people with a similar mindset.

you will notice that the media and government have a vested interest in changing the public perception of names of ideologies (look at feminism in the 1980's and compare it to now, and you will see they actually oppose each other). the word liberal has been conflated with progressive. this causes people to attack "liberals" and so there is a public disagreement over what the term "liberal" or "feminist" really means. the powers that be use this redefinition of words to prevent like minded people from gathering together to create political power.

divide and conquer, control the people by controlling thoughts, control thoughts by controlling words. those with the power to shape language have the power to shape the world.