UGC NET Philosophy: Syllabus, Exam Pattern & Sample Questions

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Are you searching for the syllabus of UGC NET Philosophy? Here you will get the latest syllabus for the National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) exam. It will surely help you in the effective preparation of NET Philosophy exam (Paper II, Paper III-A & Paper III-B). CBSE NET Philosophy exam will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The syllabus given below is based on the latest pattern of the University Grants Commission (UGC) - Philosophy curriculum. We suggest you to check our free online mock tests for UGC NET examinations.

We have listed some of the frequently asked questions (FAQs), asked by the UGC NET (Philosophy) candidates, so that they will get a basic idea of NET (Philosophy) exam pattern.

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UGC NET Philosophy Syllabus: Paper II

  1. Paper - II (1)
  2. Paper - II (2)
  3. Paper - II (3)
  4. Paper - II (4)

UGC NET Philosophy Syllabus: (Paper III - Part B)

  1. Elective Paper - I
  2. Elective Paper - II
  3. Elective Paper - III
  4. Elective Paper - IV
  5. Elective Paper - V

UGC NET Philosophy (Paper II): Detailed Syllabus

Given below is the list of unit wise syllabus for UGC NET (Philosophy) 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 turlya, 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, astahgamarga, nirvana, madhyam pratipad, pratityasamutpada, ksanabhahgavada, anatmavada.
  • Schools of Buddhism : Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Yogacara and Madhyamika.
  • Nyaya : Prama and apramd, pramanya and apramanya; pramdna : pratyaksa nirvikalpaka, savikalpaka, laukika and alaukika; anurndna : anvayavyatireka, lingapardmarsa uydpti.
  • Classification : vyaptigrahopayas, hetvdbhasa, upamana.
  • Sabda : Sakti, laksana, akanksa, yogyata, sannidhi and tatparya,
  • Concept of God, arguments for the existence of God, adrsta, nihsryeasa.
  • Vaisesika : Concepts of padartha, dravya, guna karma, sdmanya, samavaya, visesa, abhdua, causation : Asatkaryavada, samavayu asamavayi nimitta karana, paramdnuvada adrsta, nihsiryeas.
  • Samkhya : Satkaryavdda, 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 purvajritinamsa, classification of srutivakyas, vidhi, nisedha and arthavada, dharma, bhavana, sabdanityavada, Jatisaktivada, Kumarila and Prabhakara Schools of mlmamsa and their major points of difference, triputi - samvit, jnatata, abhava and anupalabdhi, anvitdbhidhanavada, abihifdhvayavada
  • Vedanta.
  • Advaita - Rejection of difference : Adhyasa, maya, three grades of satta, Jiva, Jtvanmukti, Vivartavada.
  • Visispadvaita : Saguna Brahman, refutation of maya, aprthaksiddhi parindmavada, 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 ( episteiw ) 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.
  • Leibniz : Monadology, truths of reason and truths of fact, innateness of all ideas, proofs for the existence of God, principles of non - contradiction, sufficient reason and identity of indiscemibles, 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 speculative 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, philosophy 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. Pierce and William James : Pragmatic theories of meaning and truth.
  • G. Ryle : Systematically misleading expressions, category mistake, concept of mind, critique of Cartesian dualism.

UGC NET Philosophy (Paper III-B): Detailed Syllabus

Given below is the list of (Elective / Optional) unit wise syllabus for paper III (Part B).

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, world - views ( Weltanschaunngen ) in religions, immortality, the doctrine of incarnation and prophethood, religious hermeneutics, religion and moral social values, religion and secular society.

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 vedanta philosophy with special reference to five main acharyas viz. Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhava, Nimbarka and Vallabha, The purpose is to test the candidate's acquaintance with vedanta philosophy in its rich and divergent forms ].

Sources, General Features, similarities and differences, Brahman : Definition and interpretations, distinction between saguna and nirguna arid its relevance in the formation of different schools of vedanta, maya. : Its nature, arguments for and against mdya, atman : Its nature, relation between atman and Brahman; Jiva; interpretation of mahdvdkyas, e.g. tat tvam asi.

Moksa : Nature and types, marga or sadhand, roles played by jnana, karma and bhakti, different conceptions of bhakti, theories of causation, Brahman as the cause of the world : Different interpretations, prama, pramanas, special role played by sabda pramdna and intuition ( saksatkara / aparoksanubhuti, theories of khyatis ).

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 : Dharna, 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.

UGC NET Philosophy: Exam Pattern (FAQs)

Is it mandatory to qualify UGC General Paper-1?
Yes, it is necessary for all UGC (Philosophy) candidates to pass UGC General Paper-1: Teaching & Research Aptitude (TRA) exam
How many question papers are there in the UGC NET (Philosophy) exam?
Two: Paper II and Paper III
How many questions will be their in NET Philosophy (Paper II)?
Their will be a total of 50 questions in UGC Philosophy Paper II
What type of questions are asked in UGC Philosophy exam?
Paper-II contains questions of objective nature: MCQs; Matching type; Assertion-Reasoning; True / False. Paper-III (Part A): Essay type questions. Paper III (Part B): Essay type questions from each of the electives

UGC NET Philosophy - Paper II: Sample Questions

Which of the following pairs is acceptable to the curb Carvaka?

  1. Pratyaksha and Anumana
  2. Air and Water
  3. Fire and Ether
  4. Sabda and Anuman

The concept of mahaparyaya pertains to

  1. Jain metaphysics
  2. Jain epistemology
  3. Buddhist metaphysics
  4. Yoga metaphysics

Identify the current combination

  1. atmavada, madhyamapratipad, pratityasamutpada
  2. anantmavada, nityavada, madhyamapratipad
  3. madhyamapratipad, anantmavada, ksanikavada
  4. madhyamapratipad, nityavada, ksanikavada

UGC NET Philosophy - Paper III (Part A): Sample Questions

  1. Explain the kinds of Klesa and the means of their removal in the Sankhya system.
  2. Give an account of the siddhi's Yogins in the yoga system.

UGC NET Philosophy - Paper III (Part B): Sample Questions

  1. State the metaphysical principles outlines in Purananuru.
  2. Evaluate the contribution to social development made by either Narayana Guru or Vallalar.

Note You can easily download UGC NET (Philosophy) syllabus in PDF format form the official website of the University Grants Commission (UGC) by simply clicking on the subject (Philosophy) link on the UGC syllabus page.