Thread on ethical views of different atheistic philosophers in Ancient India:

1. In ancient India, Charvaka Darshana was not the only atheistic school. Here, by atheistic, I mean both the kind of people including the ones who reject Vedas and +

don't accept the existence of other world. By the first definition, Buddhists and Jains are Nastika-s but they didn't like being called themselves Nastika-s and considered themselves Astika-s based on second definition. Nagarjuna and Hemachandra did it.

I'll exclude Buddhists and Jains, and focus on the rest. First, Charvaka-s didn't only reject Vedas as pramana but accepted direct perception as only valid method of knowledge. So, even logical inference is not acceptable to them.

For Charvaka, the only truth was this physical world. Based on this, they reasoned that no higher moral conduct is required if there is no existence of gods or anything beyond this loka. So, physical pleasure is the only acceptable ethics.

Next, there was Puranakashyap who believed that there is no difference between Paap and Punya because there is no Karma-phala. So, either you kill someone or help, it's essentially same. This is the path to destruction if society accepts.

Pakudh Kacchayan considered Atman to be eternal, so if a person is killed, it's immaterial because Atman is immaterial. Kill as you wish. Killing of beings was completely acceptable to him. He considered 7 elements including Atman to be eternal.

Next, there was Ajit Keshkambali who believed that there is no consequences of either good or bad deeds. Once someone dies, everything gets vanished in the four elements. Again, do whatever you wish to do.

Makkhali Goshala believed that humans have no free will and everything is pre determined. Good or bad work doesn't matter because things will happen as per the destiny. So, there is no incentive to do good work nor any censure on doing bad work.

Their ethical principles derived from their metaphysics and epistemology were so erroneous that our ancestors knew that they were dangerous for the society.

@Infinitchy For your love of Charvaka-s. :D