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Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
Full name Born Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya November 19, 1918 Calcutta, India May 8, 1993 Calcutta, India Indian Philosophy Indian philosophy, Materialism, Marxism
Died
Region School
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (November 19, 1918 May 8, 1993) was an eminent Bengali Marxist philosopher from India. He made extensive contributions to the exploration of the materialist current in ancient Indian Philosophy. His most outstanding work in this regard was the compilation and exposition of the ancient philosophy of Lokayata, liberating it from distortions that it had suffered at the hands of its opponents. He is also acclaimed for his researches in the history of science and scientific method in ancient India, especially his work on the ancient physicians Caraka and Susruta.
Biography
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya was born on November 19, 1918 in Calcutta into a brahmin family. His father was a devout Hindu and a supporter of India's freedom struggle. It was probably his influence that intitiated Debiprasad to two major passions in his life - Indian philosophy and politics; however, he quickly progressed towards radical streams in both fields, developing a lifelong commitment to Marxism and communist movement. At a very early stage of his life Chattopadhyaya immersed himself in the left nationalist movement by joining the Association of Progressive Writers, which was formed in 1936. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya obtained his academic training in philosophy in Calcutta, West Bengal under eminent philosophers like Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and S. N. Dasgupta. After standing first in philosophy at University of Calcutta both in B.A. (1939) and M.A. (1942), he did his post-graduate research work under Prof S. N. Dasgupta. He taught philosophy at the University of Calcutta for two decades. Subsequently, he was appointed a UGC Visiting Professor at the universities of Andhra Pradesh, Calcutta and Poona. He remained associated with the activities of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPHR) and the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) under various capacities. His second wife was the renowned educationist and Tibetologist, Dr. Alaka Majumder Chattopadhyaya ( 1926-1998 ). Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya's work on materialism and scientific method led to his active interactions with the international community of philosophers, historians and Indologists. He collaborated with some of the outstanding western scholars of the 20th century, like Joseph Needham, George Thomson, Bongard Levin and Walter Ruben. He was fellow of the German and USSR Academies of Sciences. As mentioned above, since his youth, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya remained active within the communist movement of India in a very non-sectarian manner. Despite being a life-long member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), which he joined in 1944, he interacted with all the Marxist segments in India, within and without the communist movement. Along with his professional writings, he was a regular contributor to party and allied journals on
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya ideological and philosophical issues. He died in Calcutta on May 8, 1993.[1]
Major works
Lokayata (1959)
Throughout his philosophical and historical writings, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya had the singular aim of reconstructing the scientific ideas and materialism in ancient India, and to trace their evolution. While commenting on his work on Lokayata, German indologist Walter Ruben called him a "thought-reformer", who was "conscious of his great responsibility towards his people living in a period of struggle for national awakening and of world-wide fighting for the forces of materialism, progress, humanism and peace against imperialism. He has written this book Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism against the old fashioned conception that India was and is the land of dreamers and mystics".[2] This study questioned the mainstream view that Indian philosophy's sole concern was the concept of Brahman. From the scattered references in the ancient philosophical literature which were completely hostile to the ancient materialist schools, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya reconstructed the philosophy of Lokayata, which consistently denied the existence of brahman and viewed pratyaksa (perception) as the sole means of knowledge. He demolished the so-called "interpretation of synthesis" which sought to combine the diverse philosophical traditions of India to form a ladder that leads to the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.[3] Being a Marxist, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya's uses the method of historical materialism to study "the ultimate material basis of the primitive deha-vada and the primitive rituals related to it" and to reveal how "could these be connected with the mode of securing the material means of subsistence". He also traced "the course of development this archaic outlook eventually underwent".
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
D. Chattopadhyaya's Writings
Books
1959 Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism: People's Publishing House, New Delhi 1964 Indian Philosophy - A Popular Introduction: People's Publishing House, New Delhi 1969 Indian Atheism - A Marxist Analysis : Manisha, Calcutta 1976 What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy: People's Publishing House, New Delhi 1977 Science and Society in Ancient India: Research India Publications, Calcutta 1979 Lenin, the Philosopher: Sterling Publishers, New Delhi 1986 History of Science and Technology in Ancient India: Firma K.L Mukhopadhyaya, Calcutta 1989 In Defence of Materialism in Ancient India: People's Publishing House, New Delhi 2002 Musings in Ideology- An Anthology of Analytical Essays by Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya: G. Ramakrishna and Sanjay K. Biswas - Editors; Navakarnataka Publications Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.
Anthologies
1982 Studies in the History of Science in India (2 Vols; Edited): Editorial Enterprises, New Delhi 1994 Carvaka/Lokayata : An Anthology of Source Materials and Some Recent Studies (Edited): Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi
Notes
[1] Most of the biographical materials are extracted from S.K. Biswas, "Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya - The Modern Indian Sage", Current Science, Vol 65 No 11, December 10, 1993, pp. 889-891 (http:/ / www. ias. ac. in/ j_archive/ currsci/ 65/ vol65contents. html) [2] Quoted in Rajendra Prasad, "Obituary - Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya", Social Scientist, Vol 21 No 5-6, MayJune, 1993, pp. 102-105 [3] Rajendra Prasad, "Obituary - Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya", Social Scientist, Vol 21 No 5-6, MayJune, 1993, pp. 102-105 [4] Indian Philosophy, pp 27 [5] Dale Riepe, Review of "Indian Philosophy - A Popular Introduction", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol 26 No 4, (June 1966), pp. 611-612 [6] Indian Atheism, pp 39n [7] What is Living and What is Dead in Indian Philosophy, pp. 359 [8] Ibid, pp. 46 [9] Science and Society in Ancient India, pp. 3
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Ibid, pp. 7 Ibid, pp. 64 Ibid, pp. 66 Ibid, pp. 72 Ibid, pp. 180 Lenin, the Philosopher, pp.1 Ibid, pp.2 E.M.S. Namboodiripad, "Dialectical" Materialism and Dialectical "Materialism", Social Scientist, Vol 10 No 4 (Apr, 1982), pp.52-59
External links
Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Lokayata (http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/lokayata1.html) Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Science and Philosophy in Ancient India (http://www.autodidactproject.org/ other/chatto2.html)
License
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