M. Nasroen

Who was M. Nasroen?

M. Nasroen was an Indonesian scholar in the field of philosophy. He is most famous for having identified and classified Indonesian philosophy as being separate and different from Western and Eastern philosophy. Nasroen reached the peak of his philosophical career when he was chosen as an emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, one of Indonesia's largest and most respected universities.

His 1967 book, Falsafah Indonesia, laid the way for Indonesian scholars to start treating "Indonesian Philosophy" as a separate area of study. In it, Nasroen argues that the uniqueness of Indonesian philosophy is manifested in philosophical notions, such as mupakat, pantun-pantun, Pancasila, hukum adat, ketuhanan, gotong-royong, and kekeluargaan.

Nasroen is also remembered for his work on the philosophy and the customs of the Minangkabau people of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, presented in his 1957 book Dasar Falsafah Adat Minangkabau. This book is still commonly cited in the fields of women's studies, such as in the writings of feminist ethnographer Peggy Reeves Sanday, as Nasroen's book was one of the first to explain the concept of matriarchy in the Minangkabau matrilineal system.