Volume-XI, Issue-VI, November 2025 |
Moral Imagination and Liberation: A Sāṁkhya-Yoga Perspective on Dharma and Ethics Mala Sikder, Research Scholar, Dept. of Philosophy, Sidho Kanho Birsha University, West Bengal, India |
Received: 17.11.2025 | Accepted: 21.11.2025 | Published Online: 30.11.2025 | Page No: 170-174 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.11.issue.06W.169 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
By giving a strong background of metaphysics, in Indian knowledge tradition, the philosophical system of Sāṁkhya exclusively posits two fundamental principles (tattva-s): pure consciousness (puruṣa) and primal matter (prakṛti). The ethical point here rooted in cultivating of buddhi (intellect), and moral imagination from this standpoint is not an abstract faculty, but a dynamic emergence of clarity (sattvic nature) within the intellect which enables one to discern right from wrong not through social conventions, but through deep insight into the true nature of reality. The Yoga system extends this insight by incorporating ethical precepts such as yama-s and niyama-s etc.; and moral imagination is cultivated here more effectively with the practices of ahiṁsā (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), svādhyāya (study of self) etc. These disciplines refine the citta (mind-stuff) and stabilize one towards a life rooted in dharma. However, the object of this article is to bring up that how the classical Indian philosophical school of Sāṁkhya-Yoga conceptions of moral imagination transcends conventional normative ethical theories, and sets forth a transformative and inward vision that guides individuals to go beyond to experience the highest goal of human life—liberation (apavarga/mokṣa). | ||
Keywords: Ethics, Moral imagination, Buddhi, Reality, puruṣa, Liberation (kaivalya) |