Exoteric refers to knowledge that is outside and independent from a person's experience and can be fully appreciated or understood by anyone (related to common sense), in contrast to esoteric knowledge (understood or appreciated by few). The word is derived from the comparative form of Ancient Greek ἔξω eksô; "from, out of, outside".

In the 15th and 16th centuries, differentiations in Latin between exotericus and esotericus (along with internus and externus) were common in the scholar discourse on ancient philosophy. The categories of doctrina vulgaris and doctrina arcana are found among Cambridge Platonists. Perhaps for the first time in English, Thomas Stanley, between 1655–1660, would refer to the Pythagorean exoterick and esoterick.

References

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