Bhutavada ( Skt. भूतवाद , bhūtavād IAST , elementalism) is one of the concepts of ancient Indian philosophy. It is already mentioned in the Upanishads and the epic ( Mahabharata ). Sometimes in later sources it is described as a kind of lokayata . According to the teachings of bhutavada, all differences in objects according to their properties come from differences in combinations of material elements that form these objects. Consciousness is the result of a special combination of material elements, which, once having arisen, can reproduce similar combinations for itself, but other combinations can never lead to the emergence of consciousness. Like the followers of the Lokayata, the adherents of Bhutavada were sensualists in epistemology and hedonists in ethics. The oldest bhutavad texts are not preserved.
Literature
- Bhutavada // Philosophical Dictionary / Ed. I.T. Frolova. — 4th ed. — M.: Politizdat, 1981.— 445 p.