Maharashtra State Eligibility Test (SET) - SYLLABUS AND SAMPLE QUESTIONS - Philosophy

UNIVERSITY OF PUNE

Ganeshkhind, Pune-411007

Maharashtra State Eligibility Test for Lectureship

Conducted by University of Pune

(AS THE STATE AGENCY)

SYLLABUS AND SAMPLE QUESTIONS - Philosophy

Subject Subject Code No.

12 Philosophy

SET (Philosophy) / 3

philosophy_SET syllabus (03-09)

[12] : PHILOSOPHY

SYLLABUS AND SAMPLE QUESTIONS

NOTE : STRUCTURE OF PAPER II AND REVISED STRUCTURE OF PAPER III PLEASE

SEE PAGE NUMBER ONE.

PAPER—II

1. Classical Indian Philosophy

Vedic and Upanisadic world-views : Rta-the cosmic order, the divine and the human realms;

the centrality of the institution of yajna (sacrifice), the concept of rna-duty/obligation; theories of

creation.

Atman-Self (and not-self), jagrat, svapna, susupti and turiya, Brahman, sreyas and preyas

Karma, samsara, moksa

Carvaka : Pratyaksa as the only pramana, critique of anumana and sabda, rejection of non-material

entities and of dharma and moksa

Jainism : Concept of reality-sat, dravya, guna, paryaya, jiva, ajiva, anekantavada, syadvada and

nayavada; theory of knowledge; bondage and liberation

Buddhism : Four noble truths, astangamarga, nirvana, madhyam pratipad pratityasamutpada,

ksanabhangavada, anatmavada

Schools of Buddhism : Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Yogacara and Madhyamika

Nyaya : Prama and aprama, pramanya and apramanya; pramana : pratyaks nirvikalpaka, savikalpaka,

laukika and alaukika; anumana : anayavyatireka lingaparamarsa, vyapti; classification : vyaptigrahopayas,

hetvabhasa upamana; sabda : Sakti, laksana, akanksa, yogyata, sannidhi and tatparya concept of

God. arguments for the existence of God, adrsta nihsryeasa

Vaisesika : Concepts of padartha, aravya, guna, karma, samanya, samavaya visesa, abhava,

causation : Asatkaryavada, samavayi, asamavayi nimitte karana, paramanuvada, adrsta,

nihsryeas

Samkhya : Satkaryavada, 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,

kaivalya, atheism

Yoga : Patanjali’s concept of citta and citta-vrtti, eight-fold path of yoga the role of God in yoga

Purva-Mimamsa

Sruti and its importance, atheism of purvamimamsa, classification of srutivakyas, vidhi, nisedha and

arthavada, dharma, bhavana sabdanityavada, jatisaktivada

Kumarila and Prabhakara Schools of mimamsa and their major points of difference, triputi-samvit,

jnatata, abhava and anupalabdh anvitabhidhanavada, abihitanvayavada

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Vedanta

Advaita-Rejection of difference : Adhyasa, maya, three grades of satta, jiva jivanmukti, vivartavada

Visistadvaita : Saguna, Brahman, refutation of maya, aprthaksiddh parinamavada, jiva, bhakti and

prapatti

Dvaita-Rejection of nirguna brahman and maya, bheda and saksi, bhakti

2. Modern Indian Thinkers

Vivekananda-Practical vedanta, universal religion

Aurobindo-Evolution, mind and supermind, integral yoga

Iqbal-Self, God, man and superman

Tagore-Religion of man, ideas on education

K. C. Bhattacharyya-Concept of philosophy, subject as freedom, the doctrine of maya

Radhakrishnan-Intellect and intuition, the idealist view of life

J. Krishnamurti-Freedom from the known, analysis of self

Gandhi-Non-violence, satyagraha, swaraj, critique of modern civilization

Ambedkar-Varna and the caste system, Neo-Buddhism

3. Classical Western Philosophy

Early Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle

Ionians, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Democritus

The Sophists and Socrates

Plato-Theory of knowledge, knowledge (episteme) and opinion (doxa), theory of Ideas, the method

of dialectic, soul and God.

Aristotle-Classification of the sciences, the theoretical, the practical and the productive (theoria,

praxis, techne), logic as an organon, critique of Plato’s theory of Ideas, theory of causation, form and

matter, potentiality and actuality, soul and God

Medieval Philosophy

St. Augustine-Problem of evil

St. Anselm-Ontological argument

St. Thomas Aquinas-Faith and reason, essence and existence, the existence of God

4. Modern Western Philosophy

Rationalism

Descartes : Conception of method and the need for method in philosophy, clarity and distinctness

as the criterion of truth, doubt and methodological scepticism, the cogito-intuition or inference? innate

ideas, the ‘real’ distinction between mind and matter, role of God, proofs for the existence of God,

mind-body interactionalism

Spinoza : Substance, Attribute and Mode, the concept of ‘God or Nature’, the mind-body problem,

pantheism, three orders of knowing

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Leibniz : Monadology, truths of reason and truths of fact, innaleness of all 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 and philosophy

Empiricism

Locke : Ideas and their classification, refutation of innate ideas, theory of knowledge, three grades

of knowledge, theory of substance, distinction between primary and secondary qualities

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

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

Critical Philosophy and After

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, freedom and immortality, rejection of specualative metaphysics

Hegel : The conception of Geist (spirit), the dialectical method, concepts of being, non-being and

becoming, absolute idealism

Nietzsche : Critique of western culture, will to power

Moore : Refutation of idealism, defence of commonsense, philosophy and analysis

Russell : Refutation of idealism, logic as the essence of philosophy, logical atomism

Wittgenstein : language and reality, facts and objects, names and propositions, the picture theory,

phiolosophy and language, meaning and use, forms of life

Husserl : The Husserlian method, intentionality

Heidegger : Being and nothingness, man as being-in-the-world, critique of technological civilization

Logical Positivism : The verifiability theory of meaning, the verification principle, rejection of metaphysics,

unity of science

C. S. Peirce and William James : Pragmatic theories of meaning and truth

G. Ryle : Systematically misleading expressions, category mistake, concept of mind, critique of

Cartesian dualism

PAPER—III (A)

(CORE GROUP)

Unit—I

Vy vah rika and P ran rthika Satt

Nitya and anitya Dravy

K ranat

k sa, Dik and K la

S m nya and Sambantha

Cit, Acit and tman

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Unit—II

Appearance and reality

Being and becoming

Causality, Space and Time

Matter, Mind and Self

Substance and Univesals

The problem of personal identity

Unit—III

Pram

Kinds of Pram nas

Khy tiv da

Pr m nyav da

Anvit bhidh nav da and Abhihit nvayav da

Sabdagraha

Unit—IV

Definition of knowledge

Ways of knowing

Theories of error

Theories of truth

Belief and scepticism

Problem of induction

Unit—V

Concept of Pratyaksa in Ny ya

Concept of Pratyaksa in Buddhism

Concept of Pratyaksa in S mkara Ved nta

Nature and kinds of Anum na

Definition and Nature of Vy pti

Hetv bh sas

Unit-VI

Rna and Rta

Purus rthas, Svadharma

Varnadharma and sramadharma

Nisk makarma and Lokasangraha

Panc sila and Triratnas

Brahmavih ras

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Unit—VII

Good, right, justice

Duty and obligation

Cardinal virtues

Eudaemonism

Freedom and responsibility

crime and punishment

Unit—VIII

Ethical cognitivism and non-cognitivism

Ethical realism and intuitionism

Kant’s moral theory

Kinds of utilitarianism

Human rights and social disparities

Ferminism

Unit—IX

Truth and validity

Nature of propositions

Categorical syllogism

Laws of thought

Classification of propositions

Square of opposition

Unit—X

Truth-functions and propositional logic

Quantification and rules of quantification

decision procedures

Proving validity

Argument and argument-form

Axiomatic system, consistency, completeness

PAPER—III (B)

(ELECTIVE / OPTIONAL)

Elective—I

(Candidates will be expected to be familiar with the main tenets and practices of the following groups

of religions : (1) Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism; (2) Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity

and Islam; (3) tribal religions of India)

Possibility and need of comparative religion, commonality and differences among religions, the nature

of inter-religious dialogue and understanding, religious experience, modes of understanding the divine,

the theory of liberation, the means for attaining liberation, the God-man relation in religions, worldviews

(Weltanschaunngen) in religions, immortality, the doctrine of incarnation and prophethood,

religions hermeneutics, religion and moral social values, religion and secular society

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Elective—II

General :

The linguistic turn and the conception of philosophy

Problems :

Semantics : Frege’s distinction between sense and reference, concepts and objects, related

problems and their proposed solutions : (a) identity, (b) negative existentials, (c) indirect speech,

(d) propositional attitudes, the meaning and role of singular terms : (a) Proper names, (b)

definite descriptions, (c) demonstratives and other indexicals; the relation between meaning and

truth, holistic and atomistic approach to meaning, what is a theory of meaning ?

Pragmatics : Meaning and use; speech acts

[The above problem areas require candidate’s familiarity with the works of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein,

Austin, Quine, Strawson. Davidson, Dummett and Searle.]

Elective—III

[The purpose here is to assess the candidate’s acquaintence with the central concepts in phenomenology

and hermeneutics]

Phenomenology as an approach to the understanding of the human condition, consciousness and

intentionality, phenomenology and solipsism, the life-world (Lebenswelt), interpretation, understanding

and the human sciences, the idea of the text, conflict of interpretation and the possibilities of agreement,

culture, situatedness and interpretation

Elective—IV

[This covers vendata philosophy with special reference to five main acharyas viz. Sankara, Ramanuja,

Madhava, Nimbarka and Vallabha, The purpose is to test the candidare’s acquaintence with vedanta

philosophy in its rich and divergent forms]

Sources, general features, similarities and differences, Brahman : Definition and interpretations, distinction

between saguna and nirguna and its relevance in the formation of different schools of vedanta, m y

: Its nature, agruments for and against m y tman : Its nature, relation between atm n and Brahman;

jiva; interpretation of m h v kyas, e.g. tat tvam asi, moksa : Nature and types, marga or s dhan ,

roles played by j na, karma and bhakti, different conceptions of bhakti, theories of causation,

Brahman as the cause different conceptions of bhakti, theories of causation, Brahman as the cause

of the world : Different interpretations, pram , pram nas, special role played by sabda pram na and

intuition (saksatkara/aparoksanubhuti), theories of khy tis

Elective—V

[The intention here is to explore the availability of Gandhian ideas in the central debates in philosophy]

Conceptions of knowledge, truth and love and their relationship, language, understanding and culture,

engagement with tradition, self, world and God. woman, sexuality and brahmacharya, moral foundations

of good life : Dharma. swaraj, satyagraha and ahimsa, community and fellowship; the good society :

statelessness, trusteeship, sarvodaya, panchayati raj, religion, tapasya, service, means-end relationship,

Gandhi and the Gandhians : break, continuity and innovation

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

PAPER—II

1. Which of the following pairs is acceptable to the Carvaka ?

(A) Pratyaksa and Anumana

(B) Air and Water

(C) Fire and Ether

(D) Sabda and Anumna

2. The concept of manahparyaya pertains to

(A) Jain Metaphysics

(B) Jain Epistemology

(C) Buddhist Metaphysics

(D) Yoga Metaphysics

3. Identify the coherent combination

(A) atmavada madhyamapratipad, pratityasamutpada

(B) anatmavada, nityavada, madhyamapratipad

(C) madhyamapratipad, anatmavada, ksanikavada

(D) madhyamapratipad, nityavada, ksanikavada

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For details visit : http://setexam.unipune.ac.in/SubjectSyllabus.html