UGC-NET – Paper II: PHILOSOPHY (Code: 03)
Exam Cycle: June 2026
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COURSE OVERVIEW
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Subject Name: PHILOSOPHY
Subject Code: 03
Conducting Body: National Testing Agency (NTA)
Paper Type: Paper-II – PHILOSOPHY
Total Marks: 200
Total Questions: 100 MCQs
Mode: Computer Based Test (CBT)
Duration: 3 Hours (Paper I + II combined)
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COMPLETE LIST OF UNITS
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Unit I: Classical Indian: Epistemology and Metaphysics:
Unit II: Classical Western: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern : Epistemology and Metaphysics.
Unit III: Indian Ethics:
Unit IV: Western Ethics.
Unit V: Contemporary Indian Philosophy.
Unit VI: Recent Western Philosophy.
Unit VII: Social and Political Philosophy: Indian.
Unit VIII: Social and Political Philosophy: Western.
Unit IX: Logic.
Unit X: Applied Philosophy.
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UNIT-WISE DETAILED SYLLABUS
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Unit I: Classical Indian: Epistemology and Metaphysics:
Topic 1: Vedic and Upanisadic:
• Rta – the cosmic order, the divine and the human realms
• the centrality of the institution of yajīļa (sacrifice)
• theories of creation
• Ātman – Self ( and not – self )
• Jāgrat
• Svapna
• Susupti and turiya
• Brahman
Topic 2: Cārvāka :
• Pratyaksa as the only pramāṇa
• critique of anumāna and śabda
• Consciousness as epi-phenomenon
Topic 3: Jainism : Concept of reality –
• sat
• drawya
• guna
• paryāya
• Jiva
• ajiva
• anekāntavāda
• syādvāda and nayavāda
• theory of knowledge
Topic 4: Buddhism :
• Four Noble Truths
• Āstangika Mārga
• Distinction between Brahmiṇic and śraminic traditions
• Prattiyasamutpāda
• kṣangbhahgavāda
• anātmavāda
• Schools of Buddhism : Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Yogacāra, Mādhyamika and Tibetan Buddhism
Topic 5: Nyāya :
• Pramā and apramā
• Theories of pramāṇa: pratyaksa, anumāna, upamana, śabda
• Hetvabhāsa
• Concept of God
• Debate between Buddhism and Nyāya about Pramāṇa-Vyavasthā and Pramāṇa Samplava
• Anyathākhyati
Topic 6: Vaišeṣika :
• Concept of padārtha and its kinds
• Asatkāryavāda
• Kinds of Kāraṇa: samavāyi, asamavāyi, and nimitta kāraṇa
• paramanukaraṇavāda
Topic 7: Sāṃkhya :
• Satkāryavāda
• prakrti and its evolutes
• arguments for the existence of prakrti
• nature of purusa
• arguments for the existence and plurality of purusa
• relationship between purusa and prakrti
• atheism
Topic 8: Yoga :
• Patafijali’s Theory of Pramāṇa
• concept of čitta and čitta – vṛtti
• stages of čitt- bhumi
• the role of God in Yoga
Topic 9: Purva – Mimāṃsā :
• Pramānyavāda: Svatah-pramānyavāda and Paratah-pramānyavada
• śruti and its importance
• classification of śruti-vākyas
• vidhi
• niṣedha and arthavāda
• dharma
• bhāvanā
• śabda-nityavāda
• Jāti
• šaktivada
• Kumārila and Prabhākara Schools of Mimāṃsa and their major points of difference
• triputi – samvit
• jīḫataṭā
• abhāva and anupalabdhi
• anvitadbhidhanavāda
• abhihitanvayavāda
• Theories of error: Akhyāti, Viparitakhyāti
• atheism
Topic 10: Vedānta: Advaita :
• Brahman
• relation between Brahman and Ātman
• three grades of sattā
• Adhyāsa
• māya
• Jiva
• Vivartavāda
• Anirvachniya-khyāti
Topic 11: Viśįṣṭādvaita :
• Saguna Brahman
• refutation of māya
• aprthaksiddhi parināmavāda
• Jiva
• bhakti and prapatti
• Brahma-Parināmavāda
• Sat-khyāti
Topic 12: Dvaita :
• Rejection of nirgupa brahman and māya
• bheda and sāksi
• bhakti
Topic 13: Dvaitavaita:
• Concept of Jījānaswaroop
• kinds of inanimate
Topic 14: Sudhadvaita:
• Concept of Avikrta-parināmavāda
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Unit II: Classical Western: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern : Epistemology and Metaphysics.
Topic 1: Pre-Socratic Philosophers:
• Thales
• Anaxagoras
• Anaximenies
• Ionians
• Pythagoras
• Parmenides
• Heraclitus
• Democritus
Topic 2: The Sophists and Socrates.
Topic 3: Plato and Aristotle: Plato –
• Theory of knowledge
• knowledge and opinion
• theory of Ideas
• the method of dialectic
• soul and God
Topic 4: Aristotle –
• Classification of the sciences, the theoretical, the practical and the productive
• logic as an organon
• critique of Plato’s theory of Ideas
• theory of causation
• form and matter
• potentiality and actuality
• soul and God
Topic 5: Medieval Philosophy: St. Augustine:
• Problem of Evil
Topic 6: St. Anselm:
• Ontological argument
Topic 7: St. Thomas Aquinas:
• Faith and Reason
• Essence and Existence
• the Existence of God
Topic 8: Modern Western Philosophy: Descartes :
• Conception of method
• Criteria of truth
• doubt and methodological scepticism
• cogito ergo sum
• innate ideas
• Cartesian dualism: mind and matter
• proofs for the existence of God
• interactionism
Topic 9: Spinoza :
• Substance, Attribute and Mode
• the concept of ‘God or Nature’
• Intellectual love of God
• parallelism
• pantheism
• three orders of knowing
Topic 10: Leibnitz :
• Monadology
• truths of reason and fact
• innateness of ideas
• proofs for the existence of God
• principles of non – contradiction
• sufficient reason and identity of indiscernibles
• the doctrine of pre -established harmony
• problem of freedom
Topic 11: Locke :
• Ideas and their classification
• refutation of innate ideas
• theory of substance
• distinction between primary and secondary qualities
• theory of knowledge
• three grades of knowledge
Topic 12: Berkeley :
• Rejection of the distinction between primary and secondary qualities
• immaterialism
• critique of abstract ideas
• esse est percipi
• the problem of solipsism
• God and self
Topic 13: Hume :
• Impressions and ideas
• knowledge concerning relations of ideas and knowledge concerning matters of fact
• induction and causality
• the external world and the self
• personal identity
• rejection of metaphysics
• scepticism
• reason and the passions
Topic 14: Kant :
• The critical philosophy
• classification of judgements
• possibility of synthetic a priori judgements
• the Copernican revolution
• forms of sensibility
• categories of understanding
• the metaphysical and the transcendental deduction of the categories
• phenomenon and noumenon
• the Ideas of Reason – soul, God and world as a whole
• rejection of speculative metaphysics
Topic 15: Hegel :
• The conception of Geist (spirit)
• the dialectical method
• concepts of being, non – being and becoming
• absolute idealism
• Freedom
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Unit III: Indian Ethics:
Topic 1: Concept of Purusārtha, Śreyas and Preyas
Topic 2: Varnāshrama, Dharma, Sādhārapa Dharma
Topic 3: Rna and yajīja, Concept of duty
Topic 4: Karma-yoga, Ṣthitprajīja, Svadharma, Lokasamgraha
Topic 5: Apurva and Adṛsta
Topic 6: Sādhya-Sādhana, Itikartavyata
Topic 7: Law of Karma: ethical implications
Topic 8: Rta and Satya
Topic 9: Yoga-kšema
Topic 10: Astānga Yoga
Topic 11: Jainism: Samvara-nirjarā, Tri-ratṇa, Panch-vrata.
Topic 12: Buddhism: Upāya-Kaushal, Brahma-vihāra: matri, karunā, muditā, upeksha, bodhi-sattva
Topic 13: Carvaka’s Hedonism
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Unit IV: Western Ethics.
Topic 1: Concepts of Good, right, justice, duty, obligation, cardinal virtues, Eudaemonism, Intuition as explained in Teleological and Deontological Theories.
Topic 2: Egoism, Altruism, Universalism
Topic 3: Subjectivism, Cultural Relativism, Super-naturalism.
Topic 4: Ethical realism and Intuitionism,
Topic 5: Kant’s moral theory: Postulates of morality, Good-will, Categorical Imperative, Duty, Mean and ends, Maxims.
Topic 6: Utilitarianism: principle of utility, problem of sanction and justification of morality, kinds of utilitarianism, Moral theories of Bentham, J. S. Mill, Sidgwick
Topic 7: Theories of Punishment
Topic 8: Ethical cognitivism and non-cognitivism: Emotivism, Prescriptivism, Descriptivism
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Unit V: Contemporary Indian Philosophy.
Topic 1: Swami Vivekananda: Practical Vedanta, Universal Religion, Religious Experience, Religious Rituals
Topic 2: Sri Aurobindo: Evolution, mind and supermind, Integral Yoga
Topic 3: Muhammad Iqbal: Self, God, man and superman, Intellect and Intuition
Topic 4: Rabindranath Tagore: Religion of man, ideas on education, Concept of Nationalism
Topic 5: K. C. Bhattacharyya: Swaraj in ideas, Concept of Philosophy, subject as Freedom, the doctrine of Maya.
Topic 6: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Intellect and intuition, the Idealist view of life, concept of Universal Religion, Hindu view of life.
Topic 7: J. Krishnamurti: Conception of thought, Freedom from the known, analysis of self, Choiceless awareness
Topic 8: Mahatma Gandhi: Truth, Non-violence, satyagraha, swaraj, critique of modern civilization.
Topic 9: Bhim Rao Ambedkar: Annihilation of caste, philosophy of Hinduism, Neo-Buddhism
Topic 10: Deendayal Upadhyaya: Integral Humanism, Advaita Vedanta, Purusartha
Topic 11: Narayana Guru: the spiritual freedom and social equality, one caste, one religion, one God.
Topic 12: Thiruvalluvar: Tirukkural
Topic 13: Jyotiba Phule: Critical understanding of Caste-system.
Topic 14: M. N. Roy: Radical Humanism, Materialism
Topic 15: Maulana Azad: Humanism
Topic 16: Sant Kabi Bhima Bhoi : Socio – Ethnical perspective of Mahima Dharma
Topic 17: Swami Dayanand Saraswati : Reconciliation of the six systems of Indian Philosophy, Traitavada – (God, Self and Nature)
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Unit VI: Recent Western Philosophy.
Topic 1: Analytic and Continental Philosophy:
• Frege: Sense and Reference
• Logical Positivism: Verification theory of meaning, Elimination of metaphysics, concept of Philosophy
• Moore: Distinction between Sense and Reference, Refutation of Idealism, Defense of commonsense, Proof of an External World.
• Russell: Logical Atomism, Definite Descriptions, Refutation of Idealism
• Wittgenstein: Language and Reality, Facts and objects, names and propositions, the picture theory, critique of private language, meaning and use, forms of life, notion of philosophy, Wittgensteinian Fideism, On Certainty.
• Gilbert Ryle: Systematically misleading expressions, category mistake, concept of mind, critique of Cartesian dualism
• A. J. Ayer: The Problem of Knowledge
• W.V.O. Quine: Two Dogmas of Empiricism
• H.P. Grice and P.F. Strawson: In Defense of a dogma
Topic 2: Phenomenology and Existentialism:
• Husserl: Phenomenological Method, Philosophy as a rigorous science, Intentionality, Phenomenological Reduction, Inter-subjectivity
• Heidegger: The concept of Being (Dasein), Man as being in the world, critique of technological civilization
• Kierkegaard: Subjectivity as Truth, Leap of faith
• Sartre: Concept of Freedom, Bad-faith, Humanism
• Morleau-Ponty: Perception, Embodied Consciousness
Topic 3: Pragmatism:
• William James: Pragmatic Theories of Meaning and Truth, Varieties of Religious experience
• John Dewey: Concept of Truth, Common-faith, education
Topic 4: Post-Modernism:
• Nietzsche: Critique of Enlightenment, Will to Power, Genealogy of Moral
• Richard Rorty: Critique of representationalism, Against Epistemological method, Edifying Philosophy
• Immanuel Levinas: Ethics as a first philosophy, Philosophy of ‘other’
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Unit VII: Social and Political Philosophy: Indian.
Topic 1: Mahabharata: Danda-niti, foundations, Rajdharma, Law and Governance, Narada’s Questions to King Yudhisthir
Topic 2: Kautilya: Sovereignty, Seven Pillars of State-craft, State, Society, Social-life, State administration, State economy, law and justice, internal security, welfare and external affairs
Topic 3: Kamandaki: Social order and State elements
Topic 4: Constitutional Morality, Secularism and Fundamental Rights
Topic 5: Constitutionalism, Total revolution, terrorism, Swadeshi, Satyagrah, Sarvodaya, Social Democracy, State Socialism, Affirmative Action, Social Justice
Topic 6: Social Institutions: Family, Marriage, property, education and religion
Topic 7: Colonialism
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Unit VIII: Social and Political Philosophy: Western.
Topic 1: Plato: Ideal State and Justice
Topic 2: Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau: Social Contract Theory
Topic 3: Isaiah Berlin: Conceptions of Liberty
Topic 4: Bernard Williams: Idea of Equality
Topic 5: Liberalism: Rawls; Distributive justice, Nozick; Justice as Entitlement, Dworkin; Justice as equality; Amartya Sen: Global Justice, Freedom and Capability.
Topic 6: Marxism: Dialectical Materialism, Alienation, Critique of Capitalism, Doctrine of Class Struggle and Classless Society.
Topic 7: Communitarianism: Communitarian critique of liberal self, Universalism Vs. Particularism, Theory of Charles Taylor, MacIntyre, Michael Sandel
Topic 8: Multiculturalism: Charles Taylor; Politics of recognition, Will Kymlicka; conception of Minority Rights
Topic 9: Feminism: Basic Concepts: Patriarchy, misogyny, Gender, Theories of Feminism; Liberal, Socialist, radical and eco-feminism
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Unit IX: Logic.
Topic 1: Truth and Validity
Topic 2: Denotation and Connotation
Topic 3: Nature of Propositions
Topic 4: Categorical Syllogism
Topic 5: Laws of thought
Topic 6: Classification of Propositions
Topic 7: Square of Opposition
Topic 8: Truth-Functions and Propositional Logic
Topic 9: Quantification and Rules of Quantification
Topic 10: Symbolic Logic: Use of symbols
Topic 11: Decision Procedures: Truth Table, Using Truth- Tables for testing the validity of arguments
Topic 12: Venn Diagram, informal and formal Fallacies
Topic 13: Proving Validity, Argument and Argument-form
Topic 14: Axiomatic System, Consistency, Completeness
Topic 15: Differences between Deductive and Inductive Logic
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Unit X: Applied Philosophy.
Topic 1: What is applied Philosophy?
Topic 2: Philosophy of Technology; technology, dominance, power and social inequalities
Topic 3: Democratization of Technology
Topic 4: Public evaluation of science and technology
Topic 5: Ethical Implication of information technology, bio-technology, non-technology
Topic 6: Environmental Ethics: Nature as means or end, Aldo-Leopold; land-ethics, Arne Naess: Deep Ecology, Peter Singer; Animal Rights
Topic 7: Medical-Ethics: Surrogacy, Doctor-patient relationship, abortion, euthanasia, female-infanticide Professional Ethics: Corporate Governance and ethical responsibility
Topic 8: Media Ethics: ethical issues in Privacy, cyber space, pornography, representation and differences-marginalization
Topic 9: Legal Ethics: law and morality, Legal Obligation, Authority and Validity of Law
Topic 10: Philosophical Counseling: Managing everyday problems
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EXAMINATION STRUCTURE
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Paper-II: Subject Specific Examination
- Total Questions: 100
- Total Marks: 200
- Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)
- Negative Marking: No
- Duration: 3 Hours (Combined with Paper I)
- Mode: Computer Based Test (CBT)
Additional Notes (if any):
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SYLLABUS SUMMARY
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Total Units: 10
Total Topics: 104
Subject: PHILOSOPHY
Subject Code: 03
Exam Category: UGC-NET Paper-II
Source: Official NTA/UGC Syllabus
Status: “As per latest official syllabus”
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