The Sāñkhya Doctrine of Satkāryavāda

About Course
Sāñkhya presents a paradigm of reality in which the effect is eternally present within the cause. This paradigm is called Satkāryavāda. Conversely, the paradigm of reality in which the effect is newly created from the cause is called Asatkāryavāda. These two doctrines have an enormous bearing on the rest of Vedic philosophical discussion. In this course, we will discuss the nature of these two doctrines. Following that, we will talk about the implications of Satkāryavāda to the paradigm of causality in Sāñkhya. Specifically, we will see how in Sāñkhya the effect remains hidden in the cause eternally but is sometimes manifest from the cause. The agency that manifests this hidden cause is therefore only correlated to the manifestation of the effect and is not truly a cause that created the effect. The differences between causation and correlation will also be discussed along with how these then lead to an alternative conception of science.
Course Content
Sāñkhya Sūtra on Satkāryavāda
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Sūtra 1.111
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Sūtra 1.112
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Sūtra 1.113