Charvaka (Lokayata) Materialism
Core position
Cārvāka, also called Lokāyata, is traced to Bṛhaspati and survives mainly in hostile summaries. It accepts perception (pratyakṣa) alone as pramāṇa and rejects inference as a route to certainty, especially about unseen karma, soul and God. The world is four elements-earth, water, fire, air; consciousness arises from their combination, as intoxication arises from fermented ingredients. There is no persisting self after death, no rebirth, no karma, no Vedic authority. Liberation is death; the good life is sensible pleasure pursued without needless pain.
Worked example
The stock inference 'wherever smoke, there fire' cannot, for Cārvāka, be established with universal certainty by perception. We observe many smoky fires, but never all cases; a hidden condition could break the relation. Since inference depends on vyāpti (pervasion), and vyāpti cannot be perceived, inference is reliable only for practical, repeatable matters, not for transcendent claims. Hence appeals to an unseen soul or afterlife fail.
Traps
Cārvāka is not a licence for reckless indulgence; later summaries distinguish restrained enjoyment and avoid unnecessary suffering. It is not 'no ethics': it can ground social conduct in prudence and public opinion. Do not claim it accepts testimony or inference as independent pramāṇas. Do not treat hostile sources as neutral; attribute cautiously.