CSS Philosophy Syllabus

Total Marks: 100
Time Allowed: 3 hours

I. Introduction:
Definition, Nature and Scope of Philosophy

II. Philosophical Methods:
Socratic Method (Socrates); Inductive Method (Bacon, Mill); Deductive Method (Aristotle, Descartes); Dialectical Method (Hegel); Fallibilistic Method (Popper).

III. Epistemology: Rationalism (Plato, Descartes, Spinoza); Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume); Transcendentalism (Kant); Intuitionism (Bergson)

IV. Ontology: Idealism (Plato, Berkeley); Representative Realism (Locke); Historical and Dialectical Materialism (Marx)

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)

VI. Muslim Thinkers: Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushid, Ibn Khaldun, Shah Waliullah, Muhammad Iqbal.

VII. Contemporary Philosophical Movements:
Existentialism (Heidegger, Sartre); Pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey); Neo-pragmatism (Rorty); Postmodernism (Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida).

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