Carvaka school: Indian materialism (see also EPISTEMOLOGY, METAPHYSICS)
An example of a pleasure-oriented this-worldly philosophy of life, based on a strictly empiricist epistemology and materialist metaphysics. No extant first-hand writings, but there are texts representing the Carvaka philosophy. These are largely written by opponents, and unlikely to be painting the most favorable portrait of this school of thought.
A good selection of such texts is provided in the chapter on Carvaka philosophy in A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, ed. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan & Charles A. Moore (Princeton University Press, 1967): pp. 227-249.
Possible Western pairings: Aristotle’s Ethics, Book 1; Nozick’s experience machine experiment (from Anarchy, State, and Utopia); Epicurus: The pleasant life; Epictetus: The life of self-control
Online introductions:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/indmat/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charvaka
http://www.humanistictexts.org/carvaka.htm
Scholarly literature:
Ramakrishna Bhattacarya, “Development of Materialism in India: The Pre-Carvakas and the Carvakas,” Esercizi Filosofoci, 8 (2013), 1-12.
http://www2.units.it/eserfilo/art813/bhattacharya813.pdf
Ramakrishna Bhattacarya, Studies on the Carvaka/Lokayata (London: Anthem Press, 2011).
Pradeep P. Gokhale, Lokayata/Carvaka: A Philosophical Inquiry (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Pradeep P. Gokhale, “The Cārvāka Theory of Pramāṇas: A Restatement,” Philosophy East and West , 43/4 (Oct 1993), 675-682.