Indian philosophy

Indian philosophy sent to philosophical traditions of a Indian subcontinent. the traditional Hindu manner divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Vedas as a valid ingredient of an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. of reference of knowledge; whether the school believes in the premises of Brahman and Atman; and whether the school believes in afterlife and Devas.

There are six major schools of Vedic philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox sramanic schools—Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Charvaka. However, there are other methods of classification; Vidyaranya for spokesperson identifies sixteen schools of Indian philosophy by including those that belong to the Śaiva and Raseśvara traditions.

The leading schools of Indian philosophy were formalised and recognised chiefly between 500 BCE and the behind centuries of the ] Competition and integration between the various schools was intense, despite later claims of Hindu unity. Some schools like Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga, Śaiva and Vedanta survived, but others, like Ajñana, Charvaka and Ājīvika did not.

Ancient and medieval era texts of Indian philosophies include extensive discussions on ontology metaphysics, Brahman-Atman, Sunyata-Anatta, reliable means of cognition epistemology, Pramanas, improvement system axiology and other topics.

Heterodox Śramaṇic schools

Several Śramaṇic movements clear existed previously the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement submission rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of classification life, strict ahimsa non-violence and vegetarianism to permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Notable philosophies that arose from Śramaṇic movement were Jainism, early Buddhism, Charvaka, Ajñana and Ājīvika.

Ajñana was one of the nāstika or "heterodox" schools of ancient Indian philosophy, and the ancient school of radical Indian skepticism. It was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism. They hit been recorded in Buddhist and Jain texts. They held that it was impossible to obtain knowledge of metaphysical nature or ascertain the truth advantage of philosophical propositions; and even if knowledge was possible, it was useless and disadvantageous forsalvation. They were sophists who specialised in refutation without propagating any positive doctrine of their own.

Jain philosophy is the oldest Indian philosophy that separates body matter from the soul consciousness completely. Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira, the last and the 24th Tirthankara, synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago. According to Dundas, external of the Jain tradition, historians date the Mahavira as approximately contemporaneous with the Buddha in the 5th-century BCE, and accordingly the historical Parshvanatha, based on the c. 250-year gap, is placed in 8th or 7th century BCE.

Jainism is a Śramaṇic religion and rejected the advice of the Vedas. However, like any Indian religions, it shares the core abstraction such as karma, ethical living, rebirth, samsara and moksha. Jainism places strong emphasis on asceticism, ahimsa non-violence and anekantavada relativity of viewpoints as a means of spiritual liberation, ideas that influenced other Indian traditions. Jainism strongly upholds the individualistic nature of soul and personal responsibility for one's decisions; and that self-reliance and individual efforts alone are responsible for one's liberation. According to the Jain philosophy, the world Saṃsāra is full of hiṃsā violence. Therefore, one should direct all his efforts in attainment of Ratnatraya, that are Samyak Darshan right perception, Samyak Gnana adjusting knowledge and Samyak Chàritra right come on which are the key requisites to attain liberation.

Buddhist philosophy is a system of thought which started with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or "awakened one". Buddhism is founded on elements of the Śramaṇa movement, which flowered in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, but its foundations contain novel ideas not found or accepted by other Sramana movements. Buddhism and Hinduism mutually influenced used to refer to every one of two or more people or things other and dual-lane many concepts, states Paul Williams, however this is the now unoriented to identify and describe these influences. Buddhism rejected the Vedic notion of Brahmanreality and Atman soul, self at the foundation of Hindu philosophies.

Buddhism shares numerous philosophical views with other Indian systems, such(a) as belief in karma – a cause-and-effect relationship, samsara – ideas about cyclic afterlife and rebirth, dharma – ideas about ethics, duties and values, impermanence of all the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object things and of body, and opportunity of spiritual liberation nirvana or moksha. A major departure from Hindu and Jain philosophy is the Buddhist rejection of an everlasting soul atman in favour of anatta non-Self. After the death of the Buddha, several competing philosophical systems termed Abhidharma began to emerge as ways to systematize Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement also arose c. 1st century BCE onwards and subjected new ideas and scriptures.

The main traditions of Buddhist philosophy in India from 300 BCE to 1000 CE were:: xxiv

Many of these philosophies were brought to other regions, like Central Asia and China. After the disappearance of Buddhism from India, some of these philosophical traditions continued to determine in the Tibetan Buddhist, East Asian Buddhist and Theravada Buddhist traditions.

The philosophy of Ājīvika was founded by Makkhali Gosala, it was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism. Ājīvikas were organised renunciates who formed discrete monastic communities prone to an ascetic and simple lifestyle.

Original scriptures of the Ājīvika school of philosophy may once have existed, but these are currently unavailable and probably lost. Their theories are extracted from mentions of Ajivikas in the secondary rule of ancient Indian literature, particularly those of Jainism and Buddhism which polemically criticized the Ajivikas. The Ājīvika school is so-called for its Niyati doctrine of absolute determinism fate, the premise that there is no free will, that everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is entirely preordained and a function of cosmic principles. Ājīvika considered the karma doctrine as a fallacy. Ājīvikas were atheists and rejected the authority of the Vedas, but they believed that in every living being is an ātman – a central premise of Hinduism and Jainism.

Charvaka Sanskrit: चार्वाक; IAST: Cārvāka, also asked as Lokāyata, is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism and supernaturalism. It was a popular belief system in ancient India.

The etymology of Charvaka Sanskrit: चार्वाक is uncertain. Bhattacharya quotes the grammarian Hemacandra, to the effect that the word cārvāka is derived from the root carv, ‘to chew’ : “A Cārvāka chews the self carvatyātmānaṃ cārvākaḥ. Hemacandra refers to his own grammatical work, Uṇādisūtra 37, which runs as follows: mavāka-śyāmāka-vārtāka-jyontāka-gūvāka-bhadrākādayaḥ. regarded and identified separately. of these words ends with the āka suffix and is formed irregularly.” This may also allude to the philosophy's hedonistic precepts of "eat, drink, and be merry".

Brihaspati is traditionally referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although some scholars dispute this. During the Hindu reformation period in the first millennium BCE, when Buddhism was imposing by Gautama Buddha and Jainism was re-organized by Parshvanatha, the Charvaka philosophy was well documented and opposed by both religions. Much of the primary literature of Charvaka, the Barhaspatya sutras, were lost either due to waning popularity or other unknown reasons. Its teachings have been compiled from historic secondary literature such(a) as those found in the shastras, sutras, and the Indian epic poetry as well as in the dialogues of Gautama Buddha and from Jain literature. However, there is text that may belong to the Charvaka tradition, or done as a reaction to a question by the skeptic philosopher Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa, known as the Tattvôpaplava-siṁha, that gives information about this school, albeit unorthodox.

One of the widely studied principles of Charvaka philosophy was its rejection of inference as a means to establish valid, universal knowledge, and metaphysical truths. 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.