The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c12.10.1

c12.10.1

This is obviously, in some measure at least, the case as regards the criticisms of other philosophies, which make up an essential part of every Indian, as of other, philosophic systems. The appended verses to the Kārikā expressly say that these critiques are omitted, and much of the omission may be supplied in the Sūtra. On the other hand, we cannot say how much : the Sūtra which freely uses the Kārikā also uses phrases borrowed from Śaṃkara, and therefore must be treated as a work the composers of which were quite capable of adding much of their own. As the text stands, practically all the leading philosophical systems receive their share of disapproval. The materialism of the Cārvākas is met by the refutation of their denial of the validity of reasoning by the reference to its self-destructive nature, since no amount of perception will give a doctrine any validity, and by the reply to the favourite argument of the production of intelligence from unintelligent things, on the analogy of intoxicating power from an aggregate of herbs, that the intoxicating power is latent in the ingredients, but there is no trace of souls in the psychic organs. The Jain doctrine of the co-extension of soul with body is refuted by the argument that, as all that is limited is temporary, souls would be temporary also.