message is held presumptive evidence of death in the law courts.
ABSENTEEISM, a term used primarily of landed proprietors who absent themselves from their estates, and live and spend their incomes elsewhere; in its more extended meaning it includes all those (in addition to landlords) who live out of a country or locality but derive their income from some source within it. Absenteeism is a question which has been much debated, and from both the economic and moral point of view there is little doubt that it has a prejudicial effect. To it has been attributed in a great measure the unprosperous condition of the rural districts of France before the Revolution, when it was unusual for the great nobles to live on their estates unless compelled to do so by a sentence involving their “exile” from Paris. It has also been an especial evil in Ireland, and many attempts were made to combat it. As early as 1727 a tax of four shillings in the pound was imposed on all persons holding offices and employments in Ireland and residing in England. This tax was discontinued in 1753, but was re-imposed in 1769. In 1774 the tax was reduced to two shillings in the pound, but was dropped after some years. It was revived by the Independent Parliament in 1782 and for some ten years brought in a substantial amount to the revenue, yielding in 1790 as much as £63,089.
Authorities.—For a discussion of absenteeism from the economic point of view see N. W. Senior, Lectures on the Rate of Wages, Political Economy; J. S. Mill, Political Economy; J. R. McCulloch, Treatises and Essays on Money, &c., article “Absenteeism”; A. T. Hadley, Economics; on absenteeism in Ireland see A. Young, Tour in Ireland (1780); T. Prior, List of Absentees (1729); E. Wakefield, Account of Ireland (1812); W. E. H. Lecky, Ireland in the 18th Century (1892); A. E. Murray, History of the Commercial and Financial Relations between England and Ireland (1903); Parliamentary Papers, Ireland, 1830, vii., ditto, 1845, xix.-xxii.; in France, A. de Monchrétien, Traicté de l’œkonomie politique (1615); A. de Tocqueville, L’Ancien Régime (1857); H. Taine, Les Origines de la France contemporaine, l’ancien Régime (1876).
ABSINTHE, a liqueur or aromatized spirit, the characteristic flavouring matter of which is derived from various species of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). Among the other substances generally employed in its manufacture are angelica root, sweet flag, dittany leaves, star-anise fruit, fennel and hyssop. A colourless “alcoholate” (see Liqueurs) is first prepared, and to this the well-known green colour of the beverage is imparted by maceration with green leaves of wormwood, hyssop and mint. Inferior varieties are made by means of essences, the distillation process being omitted. There are two varieties of absinthe, the French and the Swiss, the latter of which is of a higher alcoholic strength than the former. The best absinthe contains 70 to 80% of alcohol. It is said to improve very materially by storage. There is a popular belief to the effect that absinthe is frequently adulterated with copper, indigo or other dye-stuffs (to impart the green colour), but, in fact, this is now very rarely the case. There is some reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol.
ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free), a term having the general signification of independent, self-existent, unconditioned. Thus we speak of “absolute” as opposed to “limited” or “constitutional” monarchy, or, in common parlance, of an “absolute failure,” i.e. unrelieved by any satisfactory circumstances. In philosophy the word has several technical uses. (1) In Logic, it has been applied to non-connotative terms which do not imply attributes (see Connotation), but more commonly, in opposition to Relative, to terms which do not imply the existence of some other (correlative) term; e.g. “father” implies “son,” “tutor” “pupil,” and therefore each of these terms is relative. In fact, however, the distinction is formal, and, though convenient in the terminology of elementary logic, cannot be strictly maintained. The term “man,” for example, which, as compared with “father,” “son,” “tutor,” seems to be absolute, is obviously relative in other connexions; in various contexts it implies its various possible opposites, e.g. “woman,” “boy,” “master,” “brute.” In other words, every term which is susceptible of definition is ipso facto relative, for definition is precisely the segregation of the thing defined from all other things which it is not, i.e. implies a relation. Every term which has a meaning is, therefore, relative, if only to its contradictory.
(2) The term is used in the phrase “absolute knowledge” to imply knowledge per se. It has been held, however, that, since all knowledge implies a knowing subject and a known object, absolute knowledge is a contradiction in terms (see Relativity). So also Herbert Spencer spoke of “absolute ethics,” as opposed to systems of conduct based on particular local or temporary laws and conventions (see Ethics).
(3) By far the most important use of the word is in the phrase “the Absolute” (see Metaphysics). It is sufficient here to indicate the problems involved in their most elementary form. The process of knowledge in the sphere of intellect as in that of natural science is one of generalization, i.e. the co-ordination of particular facts under general statements, or in other words, the explanation of one fact by another, and that other by a third, and so on. In this way the particular facts or existences are left behind in the search for higher, more inclusive conceptions; as twigs are traced to one branch, and branches to one trunk, so, it is held, all the plurality of sense-given data is absorbed in a unity which is all-inclusive and self-existent, and has no “beyond.” By a metaphor this process has been described as the ὁδὸς ἄνω (as of tracing a river to its source). Other phrases from different points of view have been used to describe the idea, e.g. First Cause, Vital Principle (in connexion with the origin of life), God (as the author and sum of all being), Unity, Truth (i.e. the sum and culmination of all knowledge), Causa Causans, &c. The idea in different senses appears both in idealistic and realistic systems of thought.
The theories of the Absolute may be summarized briefly as follows. (1) The Absolute does not exist, and is not even in any real sense thinkable. This view is held by the empiricists, who hold that nothing is knowable save phenomena. The Absolute could not be conceived, for all knowledge is susceptible of definition and, therefore, relative. The Absolute includes the idea of necessity, which the mind cannot cognize. (2) The Absolute exists for thought only. In this theory the absolute is the unknown x which the human mind is logically compelled to postulate a priori as the only coherent explanation and justification of its thought. (3) The Absolute exists but is unthinkable, because it is an aid to thought which comes into operation, as it were, as a final explanation beyond which thought cannot go. Its existence is shown by the fact that without it all demonstration would be a mere circulus in probando or verbal exercise, because the existence of separate things implies some one thing which includes and explains them. (4) The Absolute both exists and is conceivable. It is argued that we do in fact conceive it in as much as we do conceive Unity, Being, Truth. The conception is so clear that its inexplicability (admitted) is of no account. Further, since the unity of our thought implies the absolute, and since the existence of things is known only to thought, it appears absurd that the absolute itself should be regarded as non-existent. The Absolute is substance in itself, the ultimate basis and matter of existence. All things are merely manifestations of it, exist in virtue of it, but are not identical with it. (5) Metaphysical idealists pursue this line of argument in a different way. For them nothing exists save thought; the only existence that can be predicated of any thing and, therefore, of the Absolute, is that it is thought. Thought creates God, things, the Absolute. (6) Finally, it has been held that we can conceive the Absolute, though our conception is only partial, just as our conception of all things is limited by the imperfect powers of human intellect. Thus the Absolute exists for us only in our thought of it (4 above). But thought itself comes from the Absolute which, being itself the pure thought of thoughts, separates from itself individual minds. It is, therefore, perfectly natural that human thought, being essentially homogeneous with the Absolute, should be able by the consideration of the universe to arrive at some imperfect conception of the source from which all is derived.
