Inphilosophy (often specificallymetaphysics), theabsolute,[a] in most common usage, is a perfect,self-sufficient reality that depends upon nothing external to itself.[2] Intheology, the term is also used to designate the supreme being. While the notion of the absolute varies across traditions and thinkers, it generally signifies something that transcends all forms of limitation, relativity, and contingency.[3]
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The term "absolute" is derived from the Latin wordabsolutus, meaning "set free, detached, or unrestricted." In philosophical discourse, it refers to something that is unconditioned, independent, and ultimate. It suggests a reality that is beyond all forms of relativity and remains complete in and of itself.
The concept of the Absolute has been used to interpret the early texts of theIndian religions such as those attributed toYajnavalkya,Nagarjuna andAdi Shankara.[4]
In Hinduism, the concept of the Absolute is most closely associated with Brahman, the ultimate, formless, and unchanging reality.Adi Shankara (Sanskrit: आदि शङ्कर) (8th century CE), the proponent ofAdvaita Vedanta (Sanskrit: अद्वैत वेदान्त), taught that the individual soul (Atman) (Sanskrit: आत्म) is ultimately identical with the universalBrahman ((Sanskrit: ब्रह्मन्). The world of plurality ismaya (Sanskrit: माया) —an illusion that veils the true, non-dual reality.[5][6][7]
According to Takeshi Umehara, some ancient texts ofBuddhism state that the "truly Absolute and the truly Free must be nothingness",[8] the "void".[9] Yet, the early Buddhist scholarNagarjuna, Paul Williams, state that it does not present "emptiness" as some kind of Absolute; rather, it is "the very absence (a pure non-existence) of inherent existence" inMādhyamaka school of theBuddhist philosophy.[10]
Jain philosophy introduces the idea ofAnekantavada (Sanskrit: अनेकान्तवाद)(non-absolutism), which posits that no single viewpoint can capture the entirety of truth and that all statements about reality are conditional and relative.[11]
InMystical traditions across cultures, the Absolute is often experienced as an ineffable, transcendental reality beyond the grasp of the human intellect. Mystics describe their encounter with the Absolute as a state of union or oneness with the divine or ultimate reality.
InSufism (Islamic mysticism), the concept ofWahdat al-Wujud (Arabic: وحدة الوجود) (the Unity of Being) proposed byIbn Arabi suggests that all existence is ultimately one, with God being the sole reality. The world is seen as a reflection or manifestation of God, and mystical realization involves dissolving the ego to merge with the Absolute. Similarly, inChristian mysticism, figures likeMeister Eckhart describe the experience of divine union where the soul becomes one with God, transcending individual existence.[12][13]
In Hindu mysticism, the state ofSamadhi (Sanskrit: समाधिः) inyoga or the realization ofNirvikalpa samadhi (Sanskrit: निर्विकल्प समाधिः) (absorption without attributes) is described as a direct encounter with Brahman, the Absolute. InBuddhist mysticism, particularly inZen Buddhism, the experience ofSatori (Japanese: 悟り) orKenshō (Japanese: 見性) is considered a glimpse of the Absolute, where dualities dissolve, and the individual recognizes the true nature of reality.[14][15]
Hegel used the termdas Absolute in his German literary works.Contrary to some popular accounts,[b] the term is not specific to Hegel. It first occurs in the work ofNicholas of Cusa, and Hegel's own usage was developed in response to that of his contemporaryFriedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling.[16]
Hegel's use of "absolute" is easily misunderstood.Michael Inwood, however, clarifies: derived from the Latinabsolutus, it means "not dependent on, conditional on, relative to or restricted by anything else; self-contained, perfect, complete."[16] In the words of scholarAllegra de Laurentiis, this means that absolute knowing can only denote "an 'absolute relation' in which the ground of experience and the experiencing agent are one and the same: the object known is explicitly the subject who knows."[17] That is, the only "thing" (which is really an activity) that is truly absolute is that which is entirely self-conditioned, and according to Hegel, this only occurs when spirit takes itself up as its own object. In some respects, this view of Hegel was anticipated byJohann Gottlieb Fichte's theory of the absolute self.[18] The final section of Hegel's Philosophy of Spirit presents the three modes of such absolute knowing: art, religion, and philosophy.[c]
For Hegel, as understood byMartin Heidegger, the absolute is "spirit, that which is present to itself in the certainty of unconditional self-knowing".[20] As Hegel is understood byFrederick Copleston, "[l]ogic studies the absolute 'in itself'; the philosophy of nature studies the absolute 'for itself'; and the philosophy of spirit studies the absolute 'in and for itself'."[21]
In British philosophy, self-identified neo-HegelianF. H. Bradley distinguishes the concept of absolute fromGod, whereasJosiah Royce, another neo-Hegelian and founder of theAmerican idealism school of philosophy, has equated them.[18]
Søren Kierkegaard critiqued the concept of the Absolute from an existential perspective, arguing that absolute knowledge undermines the importance of personal faith and subjective commitment. For Kierkegaard, truth is subjectivity rather than an abstract absolute.Friedrich Nietzsche challenged the notion of an Absolute by declaring the "death of God," which symbolized the end of objective moral truths derived from a metaphysical absolute. Nietzsche emphasized the need for human beings to create their own values.[22][23]
In modern philosophical and theological discourse,Process theology views the Absolute as a dynamic, evolving reality, whilePostmodernism questions the validity of absolutes, emphasizing pluralism and relativism. These approaches challenge traditional notions of the Absolute, suggesting a more fluid and evolving understanding of ultimate reality.
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