Charvaka phiosopy

Charvaka phiosopy

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  Charvaka Philosophy
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  Introduction Systemsof ancient Indian philosophy can be divided into two broad classes: A) Atheistic branches : The Charvaka philosophy, Buddhism and Jainism. B) Vedanta and others. The Charvaka (charu + vaak) , also known as Lokayata philosophy, is a heterodox Hindu philosophy. No original texts of the Charvaka School of philosophy have been preserved.
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  Characteristics Of CharvakaPhilosophy The Charvaka's thought is characterised by an insistence on joyful living i.e. materialism or hedonism: Eat Drink and Be merry. Charvaka believed that the material Universe did exist. The matter consisted of five elements: earth, water, energy, air and ether. Charvaka accepted the first four but rejected ether (akasa) because its existence cannot be perceived.
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  Soul and Consciousness The Charvaka philosophy said there is no soul apart from the body. The body is material; consciousness is a by-product of material. Charvaka argued that soul or consciousness is just a collection of the physical elements of the body; and it perishes when the body withers away or when body is no longer supportive. Example: Intoxication produced by liquor. Thus, consciousness, pleasure, pain, etc are mere body functions; a set of feelings; and is not part of body as such.
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  God...why absent? According to Charvaka philosophy, there exists neither hell nor heaven. For them religion is a foolish belief and God is not necessary to account for the world. This philosophy dismisses all gods, devas and supernatural beings. It also recognizes that there is no god who governs the universe, no life after death, no life before birth, or conscience (dharma). They believed that the evolution is caused by natural laws and there is no need to look for a cause beyond nature.
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  Perception Charvakaphilosophy believes that whatever is arrived by the means of direct perception is the ultimate truth. Whatever is not perceivable is nonexistent because of the simple reason that it cannot be perceived. The proponents of this school of thought believed that since sense perception is the only form of knowledge therefore in that case matter becomes the only reality.
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  Pain and Pleasure The Charvakas have emphasized that pleasure and pain are central themes of life and it is not possible to separate life from all these. In the Charvaka scheme of things, the pleasure in itself and for itself is the only good thing in life. The Charvaka did not try to secure freedom from pain; but strived to manage with it. They admitted that pain is a fact of life. Pleasure took precedence over every other priorities of life.
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  Ethics Ethicsof Charvaka is a crude individual hedonism; pleasure of the senses in this life and that too of the individual is the sole end. Considering ethical concepts, Charvakas regarded the notion of good and evil as an illusion created by the human imagination. They suggested that only aim of human life is happiness of their own.
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  Fundamental Elements OfCreation Vedic thinkers have proclaimed 4 purposes of life called ‘purusharthas’ which are artha, kaama, dharma and moksha. Kaama means satisfaction of passions. Artha refers to material prosperity in financial aspects. Dharma encompasses ideas such as duty, vocation and religion. Moksha/mukti is the final extrication of the soul or salvation. Charvakas considered artha and kaama as the two purposes of life and discarded the other two dharma and moksha.
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  Why did Charvakasdiscard Dharma and Moksha? The Charvaka philosophy did not oppose dharma when dharma only meant righteousness, but when dharma included religion in its meaning, Charvakas called it adharma due to class and caste discriminations. According to this philosophy, a Dharma which does not treat all people as equal; mistreats people on the basis of their skin colour, race, occupation or some other feature; and which does not strive for the welfare of all people in the society, is not Dharma at all. Regarding moksha, Charvaka philosophy remarked that there is no valid evidence apart from that written in bhagavatas and death is the only liberation.
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  Cause Effect Relationship Rejection of the soul apart from the body leads the Charvakas to confine their thinking to this world only. This does not mean that they denied the cause effect relationship. They accepted the ‘like causes like result’ rule, restricted to this life and this world only.
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  Summary
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  My Views Pleasure Soul Perception Human Evolution
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  References http://www.humanistictexts.org/carvaka.htm http://carvaka.generalanswers.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/ http://nirmukta.com/2010/08/01/charvakas-sweet-tongued-rebels/ http://www.carvaka4india.com/ http://www.preservearticles.com/2011082311343.html http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Carvaka
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  Thank you