A perceived element of Hegelianism in The Life Divine

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

Sri Aurobindo's metaphysics, which offers an original synthesis of Eastern and Western thought, was influenced by an intimate knowledge of several Western thinkers and philosophical traditions he acquired during his extensive education in England. 

Key Western thinkers and areas of thought that contributed to his metaphysics include:

• Ancient Greek Philosophers: Sri Aurobindo was a classics scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and was deeply familiar with Greek philosophy.
  • Plato and Plotinus: He was particularly interested in Plato's theory of Ideas (Forms) and Plotinus's Neoplatonism because of their more intuitive and spiritual approach to reality. He saw their ideas as potential reflections of the Indian philosophical tradition that came through thinkers like Pythagoras.
  • Aristotle: He was familiar with Aristotelian concepts and considered them intellectual representations of the spiritual world.
• German Idealism: He engaged with the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the idealism of thinkers like Hegel. While he felt little initial attraction to Hegel, some scholars have noted a perceived element of Hegelianism in The Life Divine, suggesting a potential, possibly subconscious, influence that was later transformed within his own system.
• Evolutionary Thought: His unique concept of spiritual evolution was significantly shaped by engagement with 19th-century European evolutionary theories.
  • Charles Darwin: Sri Aurobindo acknowledged Darwin's contributions to the understanding of physical evolution but extended the concept beyond the material to include the evolution of consciousness itself.
  • Henri Bergson: He incorporated aspects of Bergson's emphasis on intuition and the élan vital (vital impulse) into his own framework, transforming Bergson's ideas into a deeper explanation of the universe's evolutionary course.
  • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Though they did not know each other personally during their lifetimes, scholars have noted a remarkable closeness between Sri Aurobindo's evolutionary vision and that of the French scientist-mystic Teilhard de Chardin.
• Other Thinkers: Sri Aurobindo also referenced the ideas of Kant and Nietzsche, particularly the latter's ideas which resonated with his own concept of the "superman" or supramental being, albeit with a different spiritual foundation. 

Ultimately, Sri Aurobindo did not simply adopt these Western ideas but used them to build a unique philosophical system that integrated and synthesized both Eastern and Western perspectives, always subordinating them to his own profound spiritual experiences and realisations based on the Vedas and Upanishads. 

- GoogleAI 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Which+Western+thinkers+contributed+to+Sri+Aurobindo%27s+metaphysics&oq

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