Absolute algebras are a new type of algebraic structures, endowed with a meaningful notion of infinite sums of operations without supposing any underlying topology. Opposite to the usual definition of operadic calculus, they are defined as algebras over cooperads. The goal of this article is to develop this new theory. First, we relate the homotopy theory of absolute algebras to the homotopy theory of usual algebras via a duality square. It intertwines Bar-Cobar adjunctions with linear duality adjunctions. In particular, we show that linear duality functors between types of coalgebras and types of algebras are Quillen functors and that they induce equivalences between objects with degree-wise finite dimensional homology. We embed the theory of contramodules as a particular case of the theory of absolute algebras. We study in detail the case of absolute associative algebras and absolute Lie algebras. Campos--Petersen--Robert-Nicoud--Wierstra showed that two nilpotent Lie algebras whose universal enveloping algebras are isomorphic as associative algebras must be isomorphic. We generalize their theorem to any absolute Lie algebras and any minimal absolute $\mathcal{L}_\infty$-algebra, of which nilpotent Lie algebras and minimal nilpotent $\mathcal{L}_\infty$-algebras are a particular cases.