Greetings,
I came across an interesting article with the above subject worth sharing here.
To summarize the article, the author argues that even though Samkhya is a dualistic philosophy, in so far as it seeks to explain our world/experiences using two fundamental irreducible principles of Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (nature), it is quite different from Cartesian dualism.
The key is that the Samkhya makes the Buddhi (intellect), ahamkara (I-ness, ego) and manas (mind) be evolutes of Prakriti as opposed to Purusha (which neither evolves nor is an evolute). This contrasts with Cartesian dualism in which mind/consciousness/ideas, etc. form a part of the non-materialistic and ultimately non-naturalistic realm. The author argues this type of dualism faces one insurmountable problem:
How do ideas/thought/mind and matter interact since they are on two different sides of the spirit/matter divide? What is the relationship between them and how can a relationship even be formed between these?
Samkhya avoids this problem because in Samkhya, mind/intellect/ego and the material universe are on the same side of the spirit/matter divide. Thus, Samkhya posits a purely naturalistic explanation for our world experience. There is no ontological/metaphysical divide in Samkhya between the mind and matter.
Purusha is pure consciousness and it is Purusha's presence near the first few evolutes of Prakriti (Buddhi, Manas, Ahamkara) that make the mind appear conscious due to the predominance of the sattva guna.
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Originally Posted by Twilightdance
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