Make Entry -- Become an Editor -- Most Popular: (10, 25, 50, 75, 100)

   Help

Monism

Monism is a philosophical term deriving from the Greek "monos," meaning "one," "alone," or "unique." Monism opposes to Dualism and Pluralism in its denial that the appearance of a multiplicity of different phenomena are really aspects of an underlying whole or unity. Ancient Hindu philosophers considered the world of our sensory experience to be illusion [maya], and early Greek philosophers agreed that sensory knowledge is untrustworthy for determining the true nature of things.

Epistemological Monism in its classical form is known as Absolutism. It states that both subject and object are mere apects of a single abstract, unlimited consciousness - or state of being - termed "The Absolute," and is used in describing absolutist forms of monotheism, panpsychism and even reductive materialism (all things that exist are reducible to matter/energy).

Monism is consistent with the universal quality of mysticism, in that it affirms the all-embracing sense of "one-ness" or unity in the experience of mystical states [a.k.a. euphoric vision]. This apprehension of a fundamental unity of being has been reported throughout recorded history by mystics representing the full range of cultural religious/philosophical traditions.

Web Resources On Monism

Monistic Worldview
Monism in Catholic Encyclopedia

Book Resources On Monism

The Legacy of Parmenides: Eleatic Monism and Later Presocratic Thought by Patricia Curd
Monism by Andreas Bachli and Klaus Petrus
Monism - The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science by Ernst Haeckel

Site Maps: Most Recent | Clusters | Browse
New: Graduate Student Job Opportunity