PHILOSOPHY

SYLLABUS DETAILS

Section-I. Introduction:
Definition, Nature and Scope of Philosophy
Section-II. Philosophical Methods:
Socratic Method (Socrates); Inductive Method (Bacon, Mill); Deductive Method
(Aristotle, Descartes); Dialectical Method (Hegel); Fallibilistic Method (Popper)
Section-III. Epistemology: Rationalism (Plato, Descartes, Spinoza); Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley,
Hume); Transcendentalism (Kant); Intuitionism (Bergson)
Section-IV. Ontology: Idealism (Plato, Berkeley); Representative Realism (Locke); Historical and
Dialectical Materialism (Marx)
Section-V. Ethics: What is morality? The challenge of cultural relativism; Does morality depend
on religion? Psychological and ethical egoism: Virtue Ethics (Aristotle); Moral
Absolutism (Kant), Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill); Social Contract Theory (Hobbes, Rawls).
Section-VI. Muslim Thinkers: Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Khaldun, Shah
Waliullah, Muhammad Iqbal.
Section-VII. Contemporary Philosophical Movements:
Existentialism (Heidegger, Sartre); Pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey);
Neo-pragmatism (Rorty); Postmodernism (Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida)