KNOWLEDGE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND REALITY: ADVAITA VEDĀNTA AND HUSSERLIAN PHENOMENOLOGY IN DIALOGUE

Abstract

Abstract: This study investigates an international philosophical debate between Advaita Vedānta and Husserlian Phenomenology by analysing their mutual focus on knowledge, awareness, and reality. Both traditions, despite originating from different historical and cultural settings, converge on the supremacy of consciousness as the fundamental basis of experience and existence. Advaita Vedānta, with its non-dual metaphysics of Brahman as pure consciousness, asserts that the cosmos is Māyā, a phenomenal manifestation based in ignorance (Avidyā). Conversely, Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology aims to suspend the natural attitude via epoché, uncovering the transcendental ego as the foundation for all meaning and intentionality. This study employs a comparative hermeneutic methodology to elucidate how both frameworks delineate the relationship between subjectivity and the world, avoiding ontological dualism. Advaita facilitates self-realization (Ātma-jñāna) by dissolving the distinction between the knower and the known, whereas Husserlian inquiry focuses on the formation of meaning within consciousness. The dialogue highlights significant intersections that clarify a universal philosophy of consciousness and emphasize the contemporary importance of cross-cultural phenomenology. This study contends that integrating Vedāntic non-dualism with phenomenological reduction presents novel avenues for reevaluating epistemology and metaphysics outside the confines of Western empiricism and Indian scholasticism. Keywords: Advaita Vedānta, Husserlian Phenomenology, Consciousness, Knowledge, Reality, Non-dualism, Intentionality, Brahman, Epoché, Comparative Philosophy.