Cārvāka Critique of Inference

On December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 By Global PhilosophyIn Epistemology, India, Logic, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Author: Ethan Mills (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)

The irreligious Cārvāka school, which existed at least as far back as the time of the Buddha (c. 400 BCE), is often depicted as denying the validity of inference as a means of knowledge. There are virtually no extant texts written by members of the Cārvāka school, but the Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha (Collection of All Philosophical Views), a doxography composed by the 14^th century Advaita Vedāntin Mādhava, summarizes the Cārvāka argument against inference.

Continue reading “Cārvāka Critique of Inference” →

Carvaka school

On March 28, 2016February 3, 2017 By Global PhilosophyIn Epistemology, Ethics, India, Metaphysics1 Comment

Author: Sonia Sikka (University of Ottawa)

The Carvaka tradition offers an example of a pleasure-oriented this-worldly philosophy of life, based on a strictly empiricist epistemology and materialist metaphysics. Claiming that sense-perception constitutes the only reliable means of knowing, Carvaka thinkers reject the possibility of drawing inferences about what cannot be perceived, and some reject the validity of inferential reasoning altogether. They therefore argue that there is no afterlife, and that the mind is a product of matter. Consequently, they also deny the utility of priests and rituals, and question the caste system. They are represented as amoral hedonists by their opponents, but this portrait may not be entirely accurate.

Continue reading “Carvaka school” →