Abstract

This essay contrasts two characterizations of the subject: One derived from continental philosophy—the subject as a lack of being, and the other, derived from ancient Indian philosophy of Vedanta, which posits the subject as plenum. This modern contrast of viewpoints reveals how reason breaks down when faced with what is immediate, over-proximate, and primordially inaccessible in human experience. A modern examination of the fundamental tenets of Advaita Vedanta demonstrates how the linguistic signifier functions in thought’s native impulse towards totality, unity, and identity. This essay further suggests how the condition for the possibility of experience necessarily precludes both complete/perfect knowledge and obviates the possibility of ever directly experiencing absolute oneness