Absolute

absolute

(Latin: absolutum, entirely free) In philosophy: (1) pure actuality; (2) that which is complete, perfect and unlimited; (3.) that which exists by its own nature and is therefore inde- pendent of everything else; (4) that which is not related to any other being; (5) the sum of all being, actual and potential (Hegel). In the first three meanings it is a name for God which Chrts- tian philosophy may readily accept.

Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary

Absolute

(Lat. absolvere to release or set free) Of this term Stephanus Chauvin in the Lexicon Philosophicum, 1713, p2 observes”Because one thing is said to be free from another in many ways, so also the word absolute is taken by the philosophers in many senses.” In Medieval Scholasticism this term was variously used, for examplefreed or abstracted from material conditions, hence from contingency; hence applicable to all being; without limitations or restrictions; simply; totally; independent; unconditionally; uncaused; free from mental reservation.

Much of this Medieval usage is carried over and expanded in modern philosophy. Absolute and Absolutely signify perfection, completeness, universality, non-relativity, exemption from limitation or qualification, unconditionality; hence also the ineffable, unthinkable, indeterminable; strictly, literally, without reservation, not symbolically or metaphorically. E.g. “Absolute truth,” “absolute space,” “absolute Ego,” “absolutely unconditioned,” “absolutely true.” — W.L.

Fuente: The Dictionary of Philosophy