Monism

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Monism
Basic Information
Aliases	Thales Thought Ionian School Beginning of Western Philosophy
Alignments	Metaphysics
Philosophical Influences
Influenced by	Nondualism Reductionism
Influenced	Eleaticism Materialism Milesian School Neoplatonism Pantheism Positivism Pythagoreanism Subjective Idealism Substance Pluralism
Philosophical Information
Notable Theorists	Thales of Miletus Anaximander Anaximenes of Miletus Pythagoras Heraclitus Parmenides Baruch Spinoza G. W. F. Hegel F. W. J. Schelling Francis Herbert Bradley Ernst Haeckel Karl Marx Aleksandr Bogdanov Gilles Deleuze Félix Guattari Alain Badiou
Variations
Sub-Philosophies	Substance Monism
Schools of Thought	Metaphysical Monism Priority Monism Idealist Monism Idealism
Character Information
Dislikes	Dualism Pluralism

Monism is a metaphysical theory that the fundamental principle of the universe is only one.

History

Monism had many variations during Ancient Greece:

• Thales believed that everything had originated from water.
• Anaximander believed that everything had originated from Apeiron, which is existent, indefinite, and eternal.
• Anaximenes believed that everything had originated from air.
• Heraclitus believed that everything had originated from fire, which also means 'change'.

Monism later influenced Pythagoreanism, which believed that everything is a manifestation of mathematics. Monism also later expanded to the theory of classical elements, which refers to fire, water, soil, and air.

In short, Monism largely influenced not only philosophy but also mathematics, physics, chemistry, and science in general. The question of the source of everything in the universe is still unanswered as whether what comprises elementary particles is unknown.

Variants

Metaphysical Monism

Metaphysical Monism (also known as Existence Monism) posits that, strictly speaking, there exists only a single thing, the universe, which can only be artificially and arbitrarily divided into many things.

Substance Monism

Substance Monism posits that only one kind of substance exists, although many things may be made up of this substance, e.g., matter or mind.

Idealist Monism

Idealist Monism believes that everything originated from the idea or mind as a primary source.

Priority Monism

All existing things are asserted to go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonism everything is derived from The One. In this view only the One is ontologically basic or before everything else.

Dual-aspect Monism

The mental and the physical are seen as two aspects of, or perspectives on, the same substance.

Neutral Monism

In this perspective, the fundamental nature of reality is understood to be neither mental nor physical; in other words, it is "neutral".

Further Information

Wikipedia

Articles

• Monism