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Charvaka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक; IAST: Cārvāka), also known as Lokāyata, is an ancient school of Indian materialism.[1] It is considered as one example of the atheistic schools in the Ancient Indian philosophies.[a][3][b][5][c] Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism.[4][6][7][8][9] It was a well-attested belief system in ancient India.[d]
Brihaspati, a philosopher, is traditionally referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although some scholars dispute this.[10][11] Charvaka developed during the Hindu reformation period in the first millennium BCE, after Buddhism was established by Gautama Buddha and Jainism was re-organized by Parshvanatha.[12] Its teachings have been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in the shastras, sutras, and Indian epic poetry.[13]
In other words, the Charvaka epistemology states that whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional.[14]
Charvaka is categorized as one of the nāstika or "heterodox" schools of Indian philosophy.[15][16]
- ^ Seema Chishti (21 August 2018). "Indian rationalism, Charvaka to Narendra Dabholkar". The Indian Express.
- ^ Thomas 2014, pp. 164–165.
- ^ Raman 2012, pp. 549–574.
- ^ a b Tiwari 1998, p. 67.
- ^ Cooke 2006, p. 84.
- ^ Perrett 1984, pp. 161–174.
- ^ Bhattacharya 2011, pp. 21–32.
- ^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, pp. 187, 227–234.
- ^ Flint 1899, p. 463.
- ^ Bhattacharya 2002.
- ^ Jeaneane Fowler (2015). A. C. Grayling (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Humanism. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 114 with footnote 17. ISBN 978-1-119-97717-9.
- ^ Quack 2011, p. 50:See footnote 3
- ^ Balcerowicz, Piotr (2016), "Jayarāśi", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 8 July 2020
- ^ Kamal 1998, pp. 13–16.
- ^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, pp. 1–3, Contents.
- ^ Flood 1996, p. 224.
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