Absolutism may refer to:
Government
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Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch rules free of laws or legally organized opposition
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Absolutism (European history), period c. 1610 – c. 1789 in Europe
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Enlightened absolutism
Enlightened absolutism (also called enlightened despotism) refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance ...
, influenced by the Enlightenment (18th- and early 19th-century Europe)
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Autocracy
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
, a political theory which argues that one person should hold all power
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Tsarist autocracy, is a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to Russia
Philosophy
General philosophy
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Absolutism, the view that facts are absolute rather than merely relative (sometimes called "universality")
Ethics
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Moral absolutism
Moral absolutism is an ethical view that some (potentially all) actions are intrinsically right or wrong. Stealing, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done for the well-being of others (e.g., stealing food to feed a s ...
, the belief in absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, regardless of context
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Graded absolutism, the view that a moral absolute, such as "Do not kill", can be greater or lesser than another moral absolute, such as "Do not lie"
Hegelian philosophy
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Absolute (philosophy)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, the Hegelian concept of an objective and unconditioned reality, said to underlie perceived objects
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Absolute idealism
Absolute idealism is an ontologically monistic philosophy chiefly associated with G. W. F. Hegel and Friedrich Schelling, both of whom were German idealist philosophers in the 19th century. The label has also been attached to others such as Josi ...
, an ontologically monistic philosophy attributed to G. W. F. Hegel
Physics
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Absolute theory In philosophy, absolute theory (or absolutism) usually refers to a theory based on concepts (such as the concept of space) that exist independently of other concepts and objects. The absolute point of view was advocated in physics by Isaac Newton. ...
, in physics
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Absolute space, a theory that space exists absolutely; contrast with relationalism
Psychology
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Splitting (psychology), also called black-and-white thinking or all-or-nothing thinking
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