Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Philosophy
*Year 1: Foundations of Philosophy*
*Semester 1*
1. *Introduction to Philosophy*
- Key branches: Metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic.
- Classic questions: "What is reality?" "What is knowledge?"
2. *Logic and Critical Thinking*
- Formal logic (propositional, predicate).
- Informal fallacies and argument analysis.
3. *Ancient Greek Philosophy*
- Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.
- Pre-Socratics and Hellenistic schools (Stoicism, Epicureanism).
4. *Ethics: Foundations*
- Virtue ethics (Aristotle), deontology (Kant), utilitarianism (Mill).
5. *Elective 1*
- *Philosophy of Religion*
- *Aesthetics*
*Semester 2*
1. *Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy*
- Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Erasmus.
- Faith vs. reason debates.
2. *Social and Political Philosophy*
- Hobbes’ Leviathan, Rousseau’s Social Contract, Marx’s Capital.
3. *Indian Philosophy*
- Vedanta, Buddhism, Jainism, and Carvaka (materialism).
4. *Philosophy of Science*
- Scientific method, paradigms (Kuhn), realism vs. anti-realism.
5. *Elective 2*
- *Environmental Ethics*
- *Philosophy of Mind*
*Year 2: Modern Philosophy and Applications*
*Semester 3*
1. *Modern Philosophy (17th–18th Century)*
- Rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz).
- Empiricism (Locke, Hume, Berkeley).
2. *Existentialism and Phenomenology*
- Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Heidegger.
3. *Philosophy of Language*
- Frege, Wittgenstein, speech acts (Austin), semantics vs. pragmatics.
4. *Applied Ethics*
- Bioethics, AI ethics, animal rights, and business ethics.
5. *Elective 3*
- *Feminist Philosophy*
*Postcolonial Philosophy*
*Semester 4*
1. *19th–20th Century Philosophy*
- Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida.
2. *Analytic Philosophy*
- Russell, Wittgenstein, Quine, and logical positivism.
3. *Continental Philosophy*
- Husserl, Sartre, Adorno, and critical theory.
4. *Metaphysics and Ontology*
- Free will vs. determinism, mind-body problem, time and space.
5. *Elective 4*
- *Philosophy of Technology*
- *Global Justice*
*Year 3: Specializations and Advanced Topics*
*Semester 5*
1. *Contemporary Philosophy*
- Postmodernism, pragmatism (Rorty), and neurophilosophy.
2. *Epistemology*
- Theories of truth, scepticism, and justification.
3. *Philosophy of Law*
- Natural law vs. legal positivism, rights, and justice.
4. *Elective 5*
- *Philosophy of Art*
- *Philosophy of Education*
5. *Research Methodology*
- Writing philosophical essays, thesis proposal drafting.
*Semester 6*
1. *Capstone Project/Dissertation*
- Independent research on a topic (e.g., AI ethics, existential freedom).
2. *Comparative Philosophy*
- Cross-cultural dialogues (East-West, African philosophy).
3. *Professional Ethics*
- Case studies in medicine, engineering, and public policy.
4. *Elective 6*
- *Philosophy of Psychology*
- *Philosophy of History*
*Electives (Sample Options)*
- *Bioethics and Medical Humanities*
- *Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence*
- *Philosophy of Film and Media*
- *Philosophy of Economics*
- *Ancient Chinese Philosophy (Confucianism, Daoism)*
*Interdisciplinary Courses (Optional)*
- *Cognitive Science and Philosophy*
- *Philosophy and Literature*
- *Philosophy of Quantum Physics*
- *Digital Ethics and Policy*
*Assessment Methods*
- *Argumentative Essays*
- *Logic Problem Sets*
- *Class Debates and Presentations*
- *Exams (Essay-Based)*
- *Dissertation defence*