Monism
In modern Hinduism, the term "absolute monism" has been applied to Advaita Vedanta,[4][5] though Philip Renard points out that this may be a Western interpretation, bypassing the intuitive understanding of a nondual reality.
These included Thales, who argued that the basis of everything was water, Anaximenes, who claimed it was air, and Heraclitus who believed it to be fire.
The term monism was introduced in the 18th century by Christian von Wolff[11] in his work Logic (1728),[citation needed] to designate types of philosophical thought in which the attempt was made to eliminate the dichotomy of body and mind and explain all phenomena by one unifying principle, or as manifestations of a single substance.
The problem was addressed by René Descartes in the 17th century, resulting in Cartesian dualism, and by pre-Aristotelian philosophers,[12][13] in Avicennian philosophy,[14] and in earlier Asian and more specifically Indian traditions.
[15] According to Jonathan Schaffer, monism lost popularity due to the emergence of analytic philosophy in the early twentieth century, which revolted against the neo-Hegelians.
[16] The mind–body problem has reemerged in social psychology and related fields, with the interest in mind–body interaction[17] and the rejection of Cartesian mind–body dualism in the identity thesis, a modern form of monism.
While the lack of information makes it difficult in some cases to be sure of the details, the following pre-Socratic philosophers thought in monistic terms:[26] Pantheism is the belief that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God,[34] or that the universe (or nature) is identical with divinity.
Pantheism was popularized in the modern era as both a theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza,[36] whose Ethics was an answer to Descartes' famous dualist theory that the body and spirit are separate.
[38] H. P. Owen claimed that Pantheists are "monists" ... they believe that there is only one Being, and that all other forms of reality are either modes (or appearances) of it or identical with it.
[39]Pantheism is closely related to monism, as pantheists too believe all of reality is one substance, called Universe, God or Nature.
[42][43] Paul Tillich has argued for such a concept within Christian theology, as has liberal biblical scholar Marcus Borg and mystical theologian Matthew Fox, an Episcopal priest.
'all' and Latin: deus meaning "god" in the sense of deism) is a term describing beliefs coherently incorporating or mixing logically reconcilable elements of pantheism (that "God", or a metaphysically equivalent creator deity, is identical to Nature) and classical deism (that the creator-god who designed the universe no longer exists in a status where it can be reached, and can instead be confirmed only by reason).
[49][50] Characteristic for various Asian philosophy, technology and religions is the discernment of levels of truth,[51] an emphasis on intuitive-experiential understanding of the Absolute[52][53][54][55] such as jnana, bodhi and jianxing: (Chinese; 見性), and the technology of yin and yang used within East Asian medicine with an emphasis on the integration of these levels of truth and its understanding.
[52] A major role was played in the 19th century by Swami Vivekananda in the revival of Hinduism,[63] and the spread of Advaita Vedanta to the west via the Ramakrishna Mission.
[65]Vivekananda, according to Gavin Flood, was "a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating the West's view of Hinduism.
[note 5] According to Hasidic thought (particularly as propounded by the 18th century, early 19th-century founder of Chabad, Shneur Zalman of Liadi), God is held to be immanent within creation for two interrelated reasons: The Vilna Gaon was very much against this philosophy, for he felt that it would lead to pantheism and heresy.
[citation needed] Christians maintain that God created the universe ex nihilo and not from his own substance, so that the creator is not to be confused with creation, but rather transcends it.
[84] Latter Day Saint theology also expresses a form of dual-aspect monism via materialism and eternalism, claiming that creation was ex materia (as opposed to ex nihilo in conventional Christianity), as expressed by Parley Pratt and echoed in view by the movement's founder Joseph Smith, making no distinction between the spiritual and the material, these being not just similarly eternal, but ultimately two manifestations of the same reality or substance.
"[86] Parley Pratt's view is also similar to Gottfried Leibniz's monadology, which holds that "reality consists of mind atoms that are living centers of force.
"[88] The LDS conception of matter is "essentially dynamic rather than static, if indeed it is not a kind of living energy, and that it is subject at least to the rule of intelligence.
[citation needed] Born in al-Andalus, he made an enormous impact on the Muslim world, where he was crowned "the great Master".
Ahmad Sirhindi criticised monistic understanding of 'unity of being', advocating the dualistic-compatible 'unity of witness' (Arabic: wahdat ash-shuhud), maintaining separation of creator and creation.
[99][100] The doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd also enjoys considerable following in the rationalist philosophy of Twelver Shi'ism, with the most famous modern-day adherent being Ruhollah Khomeini.
[101] Although the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith have a strong emphasis on social and ethical issues, there exist a number of foundational texts that have been described as mystical.
