[5] According to Ben-Ami Scharfstein, a professor emeritus of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Uddalaka Aruni was one of the first philosophers in recorded history.
[1] Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya established Uddalaka Aruni as the first ‘natural scientist’ in the intellectual history of the world.
From these questions, embedded in a dialogue with his son, he presents the concept of Ātman (soul, Self) and Brahman (universal Self).
He was the preceptor of Yājñavalkya Vājasaneya, Kahola Kauṣītaki, Proti Kausurubindi, and his own son Śvetaketu Auddālaki.
Some of these treatises include: One very important work of Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Science and Society in ancient India, discusses Aruni.
He wrote, "Uddalaka collected observations as far as his historical conditions permitted him and even went on diligently to make experiments to understand nature and man.
One of the most well-known teachings of Atman appears in Chandogya Upanishad as the instruction of Uddalaka Aruni to his son Svetaketu.
Among those, "Tat Tvam Asi" (That thou art) of the Chandogya Upanishad is an oft-quoted thought in Hinduism.
Parts of his works contain the seeds of Indian atomism, because of his belief that "particles too small to be seen mass together into the substances and objects of experience".
[31] Some scholars such as Hermann Jacobi and Randall Collins have compared Aruni to Thales of Miletus in their scientific methodology, calling them both as "primitive physicists" or "proto-materialist thinkers".