Sisir Kumar Maitra (born 19 January 1887,

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, India, died 1963) was Head of the Department of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts,

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

. His writings compared

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and

Western philosophy Western philosophy refers to the Philosophy, philosophical thought, traditions and works of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the Pre ...

, and the teachings of Sri Aurobindo in comparison with

Western philosophers This is a list of philosophers from the Western tradition of philosophy. Western philosophers Ancient Greece 600–500 BC * Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 546 BC). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water. * Pherecydes of Sy ...

Life

Maitra was born into a Brahmin family, and as his father - who served as a Professor of English literature at the Dacca,

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

and

Ravenshaw College Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw College, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The u ...

s - was very liberal in his views on social and religious matters, young Sisir was brought up free from social and religious orthodoxy. Maitra snr was also a great admirer of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, and this was part of the intellectual atmosphere in which Sisir and his siblings lived. In his college days he was for a short time a great admirer of

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

. His faith in the supremacy of reason was shaken by the philosophy of

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

, to which he devoted several years of study. Later he discovered

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

, and in a number of books and essays helped popularise the vision of Sri Aurobindo among philosophical circles both in India and abroad, writing strictly from an academic philosophical point of view. The other philosopher who made a large influence on his mature thought was

Nicolai Hartmann Paul Nicolai Hartmann (; 20 February 1882 – 9 October 1950) was a German philosopher. He is regarded as a key representative of critical realism and as one of the most important twentieth-century metaphysicians. Biography Hartmann was born a ...

Bibliography

List of books and some articles

* ''The Neo-Romantic Movement in Contemporary Philosophy'', Book Company, Ltd., Calcutta, 1922 * "Outlines of an Emergent Theory of Values" in ''Contemporary Indian Philosophy'', Ed. By S. Radhakrishnan and J.H. Muirhead, GA&UL- 1936/1958 * "The spiritual life and its realization", ''Calcutta Review'' no. 62, 1937, 65-71 * "Philosophy and life", ''

Prabuddha Bharata ''Prabuddha Bharata Or Awakened India'' is an English-language monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order, in publication since July 1896. It carries articles and translations by monks, scholars, and other writers on humanities and social science ...

'' (Calcutta), no. 43, 1938, 235-237 * "The philosophy of Sri Aurobindo", ''

'' (Calcutta), no. 46, 1941: 113, 210, 261 * ''The Cosmic Significance of Karma in the Bhagavadgita'' ''

'', no. 44 February 1939, 60-71 * ''An Introduction to the Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo'', First edition 1941 (''

'', March). Calcutta 1941 * "Sri Aurobindo's conception of intuition", ''

'' (Calcutta), no.47, 1942, 332 ff. * "Self-effort of grace", ''

Vedanta Kesari ''The Vedanta Kesari'' (The Lion of Vedanta), formerly known as ''Brahmavadin,'' is an English-language monthly magazine covering spiritual and cultural issues. Published by the Ramakrishna Math in Chennai, India, it has been in circulation si ...

'' (Madras) no. 31, 1944–45, 8 ff. * ''Studies in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy'',

, Banaras 1945 * The Nature and Function of Thought in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy. ''

The Advent The Advent is a British electronic music act. It was founded in 1993 by Cisco Ferreira and Colin McBean. Soon after leaving school, Ferreira began working as an engineer at Jack Trax Records, a job which enabled him to glimpse first-hand the wor ...

'' November 1945 (or, Mitra?) * ''The Spirit of Indian Philosophy''. ''

'' (Calcutta), no. 51, 1946, 258-268; Banaras 1947 * ''Meeting of East and West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy'',

Sri Aurobindo Ashram The Sri Aurobindo Ashram (French: ''Ashram de Sri Aurobindo'') is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry (city), Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It was founded by Sri Aurob ...

Pondicherry, 1956 * ''Sri Auroboindo and the New World''. Pondicherry 1957 * "Sri Aurobindo and Spengler: comparison between the integral and the pluralistic philosophies of history", in H. Chaudhuri and F. Spiegelberg (eds.), ''The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo''. George Allen & Unwin, London 1960; pp. 192–204 *The Shape of Things to Come as Envisaged by Sri Aurobindo. ''Loving Homage'' Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

1958 *Grace and Self-effort in the Upanishads.

Mother India ''Mother India'' is a 1957 Indian epic drama film, directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. A remake of Khan's earlier film '' Aurat'' (1940), it is the story of a poverty-stricken village wo ...

Apr-May 1962 *Sri Aurobindo and the Message of the Buddha. '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1965

''Meeting of East and West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy''

This work is a comprehensive introduction to Sri Aurobindo's philosophy in the context of mainstream academia. In contrast to other students of Sri Aurobindo, Maitra argues that western

philosophical thought Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

is essential if one is to understand the voluminous writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. :Contents: :1. The Meeting of the East and the West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy (first appeared in ''

'' November 1951, February, April, and August 1952) :2. Sri Aurobindo and

Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1942) :3. Sri Aurobindo and the

Problem of Evil The problem of evil is the philosophical question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an Omnipotence, omnipotent, Omnibenevolence, omnibenevolent, and Omniscience, omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ...

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1944) :4. Is Sri Aurobindo a Mystic? (first appeared in ''

'' August 1946) :5. Sri Aurobindo and

Plotinus Plotinus (; , ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a Greek Platonist philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius ...

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1947) :6. Sri Aurobindo and

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1945) :7. Sri Aurobindo and

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1946) :8. Sri Aurobindo and

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1950) :9. Sri Aurobindo's Vision of the Future (first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1951) :10. Sri Aurobindo and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

(first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1952) :11. Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead (first appeared in '' Sri Aurobindo Mandir'' 1955)

References

* Dagobert David Runes, ''Who's who in Philosophy'',

Philosophical Library Philosophical Library is a publisher, based in United States, specializing in psychology, philosophy, religion, and history. It was founded in 1941 by Dagobert D. Runes with the intention of publishing the works of European intellectuals fleeing ...

, 1942, Page 163
Bibliography listing of Literature on Hinduism
at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

External links

Extract
of his intellectual autobiography contained in the article, "Emerging Theory of Values". * Extract from ''Meeting of East and West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy'' a

an

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maitra, Sisir Kumar 20th-century Indian philosophers Sri Aurobindo Banaras Hindu University alumni 20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians 1963 deaths 1887 births Bengali Hindus People from West Bengal 20th-century Indian translators Scholars from Kolkata