Sisir Kumar Maitra (born 19 January 1887,

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, 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) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

. His writings compared

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *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 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and

Western philosophy Western philosophy encompasses the philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the pre-Socratics. The word ' ...

, 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 Greek philosophers 600–500 BCE * Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 546 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water. * Pherecydes ...

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 by a ...

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 un ...

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 Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

, 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 German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

. 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 philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

, 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 philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

, 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 Baltic 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 ...

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'' () 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 sciences including relig ...

'' (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 ''Brahmavadin'') is an English language monthly magazine covering spiritual and cultural issues, published by the Ramakrishna Math in Chennai, India, since 1895. History Under the inspirat ...

'' (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 is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry. The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from ...

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 Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in languages of South Asia, South and classification schemes for Southeast Asian languages, Southeast Asian lan ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

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 woma ...

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

Sri Aurobindo Mandir Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanes ...

'' 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 (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some s ...

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 philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

(first appeared in ''

'' 1942) :3. Sri Aurobindo and the

Problem of Evil The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encyclope ...

(first appeared in ''

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

'' August 1946) :5. Sri Aurobindo and

Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...

(first appeared in ''

'' 1947) :6. Sri Aurobindo and

(first appeared in ''

'' 1945) :7. Sri Aurobindo and

(first appeared in ''

'' 1946) :8. Sri Aurobindo and

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

(first appeared in ''

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

'' 1951) :10. Sri Aurobindo and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

(first appeared in ''

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

'' 1955)

References

Dagobert David Runes Dagobert David Runes (January 6, 1902 – September 24, 1982) was a philosopher and author. Biography Born in Zastavna, Bukovina, Austro-Hungary (now in Ukraine), Runes emigrated to the United States in 1926. He had received a doctorate ...

, ''Who's who in Philosophy'',

Philosophical Library Philosophical Library is a United States publisher specializing in psychology, philosophy, religion, and history. It was founded in 1941 by Dagobert D. Runes to publish the works of European intellectuals after the 1930s diaspora in the face ...

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

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

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 translators Scholars from Kolkata