Indian Philosophy v1.c4.2

v1.c4.2

The epic period 600 B.C. to A.D. 200—Intellectual stir—Freedom of thought—The influence of the Upaniṣads—The political conditions of the time—The many-sided philosophic activity of the epic period—The three chief tendencies of ethical revolt, religious reconstruction and systematic philosophy—Common ideas of the age—Materialism—Its antecedents—Lokāyata—Theory of knowledge—Matter the only reality—Body and mind—No future life—No God—Hedonistic ethics—The repudiation of the authority of the Vedas—The effects of the theory—Later criticism of materialism.