Materialist

The name for a philosophical school
espousing the belief that the individual and the physical body are identical. The body is composed of certain
physical elements, so with the death
of the body, the individual ceases to
exist. Since the materialists believed
there is no life after death, they also
believed there is no reason to engage
in religious activities in the hope of a
better afterlife. The materialist
believes that one should live well,
enjoy life to the fullest, and then die.
This viewpoint was first espoused by
Ajita Keshakambalin, who was a contemporary of the Buddha. Its later
adherents were called both Lokayata
(“worldly”) and Charvaka (after the
supposed founder). The materialists
were universally reviled by the other
philosophical schools, all of whom
considered their rejection of religious
life dangerous. One of their philosophical theories, and a sign of their
rootedness in concrete experience,
was their position on the pramanas,
the means by which human beings
can gain true and accurate knowledge.
Most schools admitted at least three
such pramanas—perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana), and
authoritative testimony (shabda). In
contrast, the materialists accepted
only perception, denying the validity
of the other two. Emphasis is placed
on experience and the belief that
what is directly before one’s eyes is
indisputable.