Answer to Question #206301 in Philosophy for Aishwarya

Question

critically discuss sankhya satkaryavada

Answer 1

Sankhya, Yoga, and the Vedanta schools are satkaryavadins. Satkaryavadins came up with the theory of Causation. Satkaryavada is the theory that the effect exists in the material cause even before it is produced. It is not a new creation, but only an explicit manifestation of what was implicit in the material cause. They argue that if the effect did not pre-exist in the material cause, then no amount of effort on part of any agent could bring it into existence The pot exists implicitly in the clay. The potter and his tools are only efficient causes that are necessary to manifest the effect, that is, the pot, from the material cause, that is, clay.

There is an invariable relation between a material cause and its effect. A material cause can produce only that effect with which it is causally related. Hence the effect must be present in the material cause before it is actually produced.

We see that only certain effects can be produced from certain causes. Curd can be got only from milk and cloth only from threads. If the effect did not pre-exist in the cause, this would not have been necessary. But we know that everything cannot be produced from everything.

Effects can be produced only from what is capable of producing them. Thus we can say that the effect must be potentially contained in the cause. Production is only an actualization of this potential. If this were not true, then curd should be produced from water and cloth from the sand.

If the effect is non-existent in the cause, then when it is produced, it is like a non-existing thing coming into existence, which does not make sense. Nothing can come out of nothing.