Eliot Deutsch

Eliot Sandler Deutsch (January 8, 1931 – June 28, 2020) was a philosopher, teacher, and writer.

He made important contributions to the understanding and appreciation of Eastern philosophies in the West through his many works on comparative philosophy and aesthetics.

He was a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Professor Deutsch attended the University of Wisconsin from 1948 to 1952 obtaining his bachelor's degree there.

He attended the University of Chicago in 1952 and Harvard University from 1952 to 1953.

He completed his Ph.D. from 1956 to 1960 at Columbia University.

After Deutsch received his doctorate from Columbia University he was an associate professor of Philosophy from 1960 to 1967 and was a chair in the Department of Philosophy at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Professor Deutsch was awarded his first Fellowship in 1963 as a Faculty Fellow at the American Institute of Indian Studies in India.

From 1965 through 1967, he was a New York State Faculty Scholar in International Studies.

In the summer of 1966, Deutsch was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.

In 1967, Deutsch joined the University of Hawaiʻi as professor of philosophy.

He was the editor (from 1967 to 1987) of the international journal Philosophy East and West, director of the Sixth Eastern Philosophers conference, as well as the past president of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy.

From 1967 through 2006 Deutsch has been a professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as well as spending some of those years as chair.

Deutsch was the author of 16 books, including; On Truth: An Ontological Theory; Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction; Studies in Comparative Aesthetics; Creative Being: The Crafting of Person and World; Religion and Spirituality; Essays on the Nature of Art; and Persons and Valuable Worlds.

Deutsch also had many publications as well as being an invited lecturer at numerous universities and colleges in Asia, Europe, and the Americas including Oxford, Lucknow University, Boston University, Fudan University (Shanghai), Madras University, the University of Rajasthan, Nanjing University, and the University of Chicago.

Professor Deutsch had been the recipient of Fellowships from the American Institute of Indian Studies, The American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

He was also a past president of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy.

Professor Deutsch recently was the recipient of the University of Hawaiʻi Regent's Medal of Distinction for exceptional contributions to his field.

Deutsch lived in Hawaii after retirement.

He was awarded a Senior Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1973 to 1974.

In December 1975, the American Council of Learned Societies awarded him a travel grant to attend World Congress of Philosophy in Delhi and a meeting of International Society for Metaphysics.

In 1984, he was Principal Investigator, Director, at the NEH Summer Institute in Comparative Philosophy.

Fall of 1985 Deutsch was at Harvard University as a visiting professor there.

In 1987 until 1989 he was the director as the Sixth East-West Philosophers' Conference.

The University of California at Santa Barbara awarded him visiting fellow for the Interdisciplinary Center for the Humanities in May 1988.

From 1991 through 1996, he held position as a graduate chair in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi.

From 1991 to 1992, he was the Project Director for "Alternative Rationalities" for the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities Grant.

In 1994, he was Principal Investigator and Director at the NEH Summer Institute in South Asian Culture and Civilization.

Deutsch was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall the University of Cambridge in England from July to December 1998 and was elected a Life Member in 1999.

In October 2002, Professor Deutsch was awarded the Degree of Vedanta Sudhara by The International Congress of Vedanta.

Deutsch was awarded the University of Hawaiʻi's Highest Award, The Regents Medal of Distinction, in July 2005.

In addition, Deutsch had written more than 100 articles and reviews for professional journals.

His works had been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.