Advaita represents idealistic monism—the view that consciousness is the sole fundamental reality. This positions it within global monistic traditions. Western monism includes: Parmenides (5th century BCE Greece), who argued being is one, unchanging, and indivisible—multiplicity is illusion of the senses. Spinoza (17th century) proposed one substance (God/Nature) with infinite attributes; everything is a mode of this substance—a pantheistic monism resembling Advaita but lacking consciousness-primacy. Hegel (19th century) developed absolute idealism: reality is Absolute Spirit's self-realization through dialectical process—closer to Advaita's consciousness-foundation but emphasizing becoming over being. Similarities: All monisms posit ultimate unity, see multiplicity as derivative or illusory, challenge mechanistic materialism, and emphasize holistic understanding. Key differences: Western monism often more abstract and impersonal (except Hegel); Advaita's Brahman is self-aware consciousness. Western primarily philosophical/intellectual; Advaita integrates practice and realization. Western developed through reason alone; Advaita combines reason, scripture, and direct experience. Advaita's unique contribution is asserting consciousness itself as the fundamental reality—not matter (physicalism), not mental properties emerging from matter (emergentism), not neutral substance (neutral monism), but pure awareness as the ground of being. This makes Advaita particularly relevant to contemporary philosophy of mind and consciousness studies, where the "hard problem" of explaining subjective experience from objective processes remains unsolved.