Reconceptualizing puruṣa within the Sāṃkhya-kārikā

The present thesis aims to help clarify the ontological principle of puruṣa within the Sāṃkhya-kārikā by conceptualizing this principle in terms of its ‘to-be-liberated' and ‘liberated’ status. I will elaborate upon the meaning of the to-be-liberated and liberated conditions, and how classical Sāṃkhya’s soteriology relates to these different conditions, respectively. Applying different lines of reasoning — which include taking into account ideas about the soul and the liberated condition that predated but possibly influenced
classical Sāṃkhya; seeking a high level of textual coherency; and viewing the text as empirically, teleologically and pedagogically driven — I contend that the Sanskrit term bahutvaṃ (‘manyness’) of kārikā 18 should only be applied to the conception of a to-be-liberated puruṣa (puruṣa from the perspective of saṃyoga, as the subject of experience) while the liberated condition of puruṣa would be better conceived as transcendental absoluteness, or as simply not relative to prakṛti.