01 January 2025

Meaning of Exist, Real and Absolute Philosophically Speaking

 Was it Kierkegaard who hated the use of the word 'absolute'? That word is derived from absolve that means to free from blame. Most people don't use it that way. He didn't like Hegel's work much and Hegel used the word quite a bit. It doesn't add any meaning to anything really. Absolute is used as a sort of super adjective. For instance in Hegel's 'Realms of Absolute Spirit' (if I recall correctly that book is a kind of abbreviation of the Phenomenology of Mind). It is one of the more over-used words in philosophy, or was. Exist does stand apart. It means one is talking about the condition of being itself. Exist is a basic philosophical word; one of reflection on being. Real is a comparable term although perhaps a lesser one. It seems to mean that something does exist.

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