Advaita Vedanta and Western Idealism: A Comparative Philosophical Analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative philosophical study of Advaita Vedanta and Western Idealism, focusing on their respective conceptions of reality, consciousness, and the self. Advaita Vedanta, rooted in the Upanishadic tradition and systematized by Adi Shankaracharya, posits a non-dual metaphysics in which Brahman alone is the ultimate reality, and the empirical world is considered mithyā (illusory or dependent reality). Western Idealism, particularly in the works of George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant, and G.W.F. Hegel, similarly challenges material realism, asserting that reality is fundamentally mental or shaped by consciousness. This study explores both convergences and divergences between these traditions. While Berkeley’s subjective idealism echoes the primacy of perception, Kant’s transcendental idealism introduces epistemological limits absent in Advaita. Hegel’s absolute idealism comes closest to Advaita in envisioning an ultimate, unified reality, though it retains a dynamic, dialectical process rather than a static absolute. The paper argues that despite differences in method, language, and cultural context, both traditions converge in their rejection of naive realism and their affirmation of consciousness as foundational. However, Advaita Vedanta uniquely integrates metaphysics with soteriology, aiming at liberation (moksha), whereas Western Idealism remains primarily epistemological and speculative. This comparative study contributes to cross-cultural philosophy by highlighting the global relevance of non-dual thought and its implications for contemporary philosophical discourse.

Keywords