Sāṃkhya teaching attributed to Kapila / Proto-Sāṃkhya doctrine
{"WorkMasterId":6466,"WpPageId":282384,"ParentWpPageId":193879,"Slug":"samkhya-teaching","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/kapila/samkhya-teaching/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/kapila/samkhya-teaching/","HasFullText":false,"RawHtmlLength":70388,"CleanHtmlLength":17134,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"Sāṃkhya teaching attributed to Kapila / Proto-Sāṃkhya doctrine","Deck":"Kapila\u0027s attributed Sāṃkhya teaching distinguishes conscious puruṣa from material prakṛti, explains experience through guṇas and tattvas, and treats discriminative knowledge as the route to liberation.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Kapila","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/kapila/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Kapila","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/kapila/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/kapila-01-watercolour-painting-on-paper-of-kapila-a-sage.jpg","ImageAlt":"Watercolour painting of Kapila, a sage","FilterTerra":"India and Central Asia","ClickText":"Kapila","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/kapila/","Copies":["700 BCE – 600 BCE","probably northern India or the Indo-Gangetic region; exact birthplace unknown","Legendary early Sāṃkhya founder associated with puruṣa, prakṛti, guṇas, discriminative knowledge, liberation, and later Sāṃkhya-pravacana transmission."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:1","Title":"Ancient History","DateText":"3000 BCE – 499 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-ancient-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:2","Title":"Iron Age","DateText":"1200 BCE – 501 BCE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-ancient-history/philosophers-of-the-iron-age/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"600 BCE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Displayed as 600 BCE as a normalized early Sāṃkhya attribution year for site sorting. Evidence notes preserve that Kapila is legendary or semi-legendary, that sources vary between early BCE, pre-Buddhist, Purāṇic, and undated presentations, and that extant Sāṃkhya-pravacana/Sāṃkhya Aphorisms material is later attributed transmission rather than secure historical authorship.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:2"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:9"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:37"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:IND:9"}],"OriginalTitle":"सांख्यप्रवचन / कपिलसांख्योपदेश","Language":"Sanskrit / early Indian oral and śāstra transmission","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:metaphysics"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:philosophy-of-mind"}],"Tradition":"Early Sāṃkhya; proto-classical dualism; puruṣa-prakṛti metaphysics; guṇa theory; discriminative knowledge; liberation through insight; later Sāṃkhya-pravacana attribution","FullText":null,"CoreThesis":["Kapila\u0027s attributed Sāṃkhya teaching distinguishes conscious puruṣa from material prakṛti, explains experience through guṇas and tattvas, and treats discriminative knowledge as the route to liberation."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Kapila\u0027s Sāṃkhya teaching; Proto-Sāṃkhya doctrine; Sāṃkhya-pravacana tradition; Sankhya teaching; Sankhya Aphorisms attribution; Sāṃkhya Sūtra tradition","KeyConcepts":"Kapila; Sāṃkhya; puruṣa; prakṛti; guṇa; sattva; rajas; tamas; tattva; buddhi; ahaṃkāra; manas; discriminative knowledge; kaivalya; liberation; duḥkha; pramāṇa; Sāṃkhya-pravacana; Sāṃkhya Aphorisms","Methodology":"Traditional founder/work-cluster record based on Britannica, IEP, WisdomLib, later Sāṃkhya-pravacana/Sāṃkhya Aphorisms evidence, Internet Archive title pages, public catalog surfaces, and scholarship rows. No full text is imported.","Structure":"One work-cluster page with Sanskrit, transliterated, and English title forms, explicit integer display year, date note, evidence note, source/transmission context, and discipline mapping."},"Arguments":["Kapila\u0027s attributed Sāṃkhya teaching distinguishes conscious puruṣa from material prakṛti, explains experience through guṇas and tattvas, and treats discriminative knowledge as the route to liberation."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"Earlier Vedic and śramaṇa debate contexts, ascetic and contemplative traditions, early Indian metaphysics, liberation-oriented knowledge practices, and the oral transmission of philosophical teaching.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Accepted as a single traditional teaching/work cluster rather than a secure authored text. Britannica and IEP identify Kapila with the founding of Sāṃkhya; WisdomLib and Purāṇic context preserve Kapila, Kardama, and Devahūti traditions; Internet Archive title pages and Sāṃkhya-pravacana evidence document later textual attribution. Sāṃkhya Sūtra, Sāṃkhyakārikā, commentaries, Yoga texts, and Purāṇic narratives remain evidence/context and are not duplicated as direct Kapila works.","The work cluster remains central for Indian metaphysics, mind-body dualism, epistemology, liberation theory, philosophy of religion, and comparative histories of science and psychology."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted as a single traditional teaching/work cluster rather than a secure authored text. Britannica and IEP identify Kapila with the founding of Sāṃkhya; WisdomLib and Purāṇic context preserve Kapila, Kardama, and Devahūti traditions; Internet Archive title pages and Sāṃkhya-pravacana evidence document later textual attribution. Sāṃkhya Sūtra, Sāṃkhyakārikā, commentaries, Yoga texts, and Purāṇic narratives remain evidence/context and are not duplicated as direct Kapila works."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Kapila\u0027s attributed Sāṃkhya teaching distinguishes conscious puruṣa from material prakṛti, explains experience through guṇas and tattvas, and treats discriminative knowledge as the route to liberation."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Kapila\u0027s Sāṃkhya teaching; Proto-Sāṃkhya doctrine; Sāṃkhya-pravacana tradition; Sankhya teaching; Sankhya Aphorisms attribution; Sāṃkhya Sūtra tradition"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"Kapila; Sāṃkhya; puruṣa; prakṛti; guṇa; sattva; rajas; tamas; tattva; buddhi; ahaṃkāra; manas; discriminative knowledge; kaivalya; liberation; duḥkha; pramāṇa; Sāṃkhya-pravacana; Sāṃkhya Aphorisms"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Traditional founder/work-cluster record based on Britannica, IEP, WisdomLib, later Sāṃkhya-pravacana/Sāṃkhya Aphorisms evidence, Internet Archive title pages, public catalog surfaces, and scholarship rows. 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Britannica and IEP identify Kapila with the founding of Sāṃkhya; WisdomLib and Purāṇic context preserve Kapila, Kardama, and Devahūti traditions; Internet Archive title pages and Sāṃkhya-pravacana evidence document later textual attribution. Sāṃkhya Sūtra, Sāṃkhyakārikā, commentaries, Yoga texts, and Purāṇic narratives remain evidence/context and are not duplicated as direct Kapila works.","The work cluster remains central for Indian metaphysics, mind-body dualism, epistemology, liberation theory, philosophy of religion, and comparative histories of science and psychology."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a single traditional teaching/work cluster rather than a secure authored text. Britannica and IEP identify Kapila with the founding of Sāṃkhya; WisdomLib and Purāṇic context preserve Kapila, Kardama, and Devahūti traditions; Internet Archive title pages and Sāṃkhya-pravacana evidence document later textual attribution. 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