19th-century Norway's foremost philosopher, who was also a conservative champion of Swedish–Norwegian union.

A proponent of the idealistic interpretation of the philosophy of Hegel, Monrad vigorously opposed Left Hegelianism and the materialistic, revolutionary interpretation of that philosophy, as well as other liberal and radical trends. In 1851 he began a long career as a professor of philosophy at the university in Christiania (afterward Kristiania, now Oslo).

Monrad supplemented his lectures and such books as Tankeretninger i den nyere tid (1874; “Thought Trends of the New Time”) and Aesthetik (1889–90) with attacks in the daily press against the attempts of the Norwegian Parliament to gain greater control of the royally appointed government and to loosen the ties uniting it with Sweden. In 1882 Monrad responded to the political progress of the liberals by calling, in an anonymous newspaper article, for a coup d'etat to restore the conservative regime and the supremacy of the king of Sweden and Norway.