CHARVAKA

Rationalism. Secularism. Freedom

Causality

  • Epistemological Parallels :
    Cārvāka and David Hume

    BINA GUPTA

    Comparing David Hume and Cārvāka, Bina Gupta examines skepticism across Eastern and Western philosophy. The essay explores how both traditions treat perception as fundamental, rejecting dogmatic metaphysics and necessary causal connections. However, Gupta highlights key differences: Cārvāka adopts radical materialism, whereas Hume’s epistemological framework leads to a more nuanced, mitigated skepticism.

  • Svabhāvavāda
    Lectures on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata (Part III)

    RAMKRISHNA BHATTACHARYA

    This lecture examines the conceptual evolution of svabhāva (own being) and yadṛcchā (chance) in Indian philosophy. Originally framed as cosmic first causes in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, svabhāva gradually shifted from signifying causality to chance. Between the sixth and eighth centuries CE, svabhāva-as-causality became assimilated into the atheistic Cārvāka/Lokāyata materialist tradition.

  • Skepticism
    Ancient ‘East’ and Modern ‘West’

    BINA GUPTA

    Explore the fascinating parallels between ancient Cārvāka materialism and David Hume’s empiricism in this unified comparative study. This article examines how both traditions challenged conventional metaphysics, questioned the validity of inferential knowledge, and reshaped critical philosophy by placing sense-perception at the very center of their skeptical inquiries into truth and reality.

  • What is Meant by Svabhava: Chattopadhyaya and Needham

    RAMKRISHNA BHATTACHARYA

    Ramkrishna Bhattacharya examines the intellectual debate between Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya and Joseph Needham on the Indian concept of svabhāva. Analyzing classical Sanskrit and medical texts alongside Chinese parallels (Tao), he demonstrates that svabhāva encompasses both causality and accidentalism (yadṛcchā), challenging its oversimplified equation with deterministic “laws of nature.”

  • The Materialism of the Samkhya Philosophy

    VASILIĬ VASILʹEVICH BRODOV

    Attributed to Kapila, Sāṃkhya presents an uncreated, materialist universe governed by eternal matter (prakṛti). Rejecting divine creation, it explains development through the causal evolution and equilibrium of three natural forces (guṇas): mass, energy, and potential consciousness. Sāṃkhya demonstrates an early systematic understanding of material transformation and the conservation of physical substance.