MPY 001: Indian Philosophy

MPY – 001: Indian Philosophy

1.Explain the concept of God and paths of liberation as expounded in the Gita.

Or

Explain the Mimamsaka theory of knowledge in detail.

2.Make a detailed exposition of the Samkhya theory of evolution.

Or

Discuss the eight fold path of yoga. What kind of siddhis do yogis attain by the practice of the

path of Yoga? Explain.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Write a note on the theory of dependent origination (pratitya samutpada).

(b)Discuss the means of liberation according to the Visistadvaita school of Vedanta.

(c)Discuss the realism of the Sautrantika and Vaibhasika schools of thought

(d) Explain the Atomic theory of Vaisesika.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)What do you understand by asamaprajnata samadhi?

(b)What is the ontological implication of sunnyata?

(c)What is the Jaina concept of Liberation?

(d)Describe the Mimamsa understanding of non-perception (anupalabdhi

(e)Describe the seven types of judgments presented in syadvada.

(f)What do you understand by right conduct (samyak karmanta)?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Kevala – Jnana

(b)Varnashrama dharma

(c)Sat and asat

(d)Sarvodaya

(e)Nishkama karma

(f)Purushartha

(g)Samanya

(h) Saccidananda

MPYE 001: Logic

1. What is inference in logic? Explain two kinds of inference with illustration.

Or

Explain the general characteristics of dilemma. Discuss the methods used for avoiding dilemma.

2. Discuss the rule of quantification in detail. How would you apply these quantification rules?

Illustrate with examples.

Or

Why certain fallacies are called fallacies of ambiguity? Explain different types of fallacies of

ambiguity with examples.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Elucidate square of opposition.

(b)Describe ‘Modus Ponens’ and ‘Modus Tollens’ with an example.

(c)Explain the fallacy of presumption with examples.

(d)How do you relate the major, minor and middle terms in a syllogism?

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)What do you understand by existential quantifier?

(b)Explain Figure and Mood.

(c)Distinguish between deduction and induction.

(d)Define Truth-table with an example.

(e)Differentiate between reason and inference.

(f)Differentiate ‘Proposition’ from ‘Sentence’.

(g)Explain universal generalization

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Bi-conditional

(b)Invalidity

(c)Nonsyllogism

(d)Middle Term

(e)Multi-value logic

(f)Hasty generalization

(g)Connotation of terms

(h)Principles of indirect proofs

MPYE-002: ETHICS

1. “Human person must invent his own values” – Explain with reference to the existentialist

humanism of Sartre.

Or

Explain the descriptive, normative and critical phases of environmental ethics. Also discuss the

‘Why’ and ‘Why Now’ of environmental ethics.

2. Write an essay on human rights. Explain the importance of right to life.

Or

What makes international ethics important? Discuss how philosophical schools of thought focus

on various aspects of international relations.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each.

(a)Make clear the distinction between values and norms.

(b)How do you understand human freedom and moral responsibility? Explain.

(c)Discuss the emotivism of Ayer.

(d)What do you understand by cultural and ethical subjectivism?

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)What do you understand by ‘the Absolute Should’?

(b)Briefly discuss the right to life.

(c)Briefly discuss distributive justice.

(d)Distinguish between the human order and the moral order.

(e)Name the seven norms proposed by Bentham for the measurement of pleasure.

(f)Write a short note on media and social responsibility

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Svadharma

(b)Eudaimonia

(c)Teleology

(d)Pancasila

(e)Consequentialism

(f)Personhood

(g)Existentialist Humanism

(h)Egology

MPYE – 003: Epistemology

1. Discuss the conditions that prompted Quine to propose naturalized epistemology.

Explain elaborately some of the implications of naturalized epistemology.

Or

Explain the criteria of truth accepted in Indian philosophy and discuss various khyativadas.

2.Define certitude. Explain various kinds of certitudes possible.

Or

How does one argue for the impossibility of Epistemology from the theory-ladenness of

observations? Explain different ways of answering such criticisms.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Elaborate on Ideal Language Philosophy and Ordinary Language Philosophy?

(b)How comparison (Upamana) is used as a means of valid knowledge?

(c)Discuss the three components of hermeneutical enterprise.

(d)A moderate foundationalism is also a moderate coherentism. Explain.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Explain the concept of a paradigm.

(b)What is correspondence theory of truth according to Nyaya school?

(c)Explain the debate between internalism and externalism?

(d)Briefly describe the ordinary language philosophy of G. E. Moore.

(e)What are the main streams that helped in the development of the linguistic turn in

Philosophy?

(f)What are the main streams that helped in the development of the linguistic turn in

Philosophy?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Syadvada

(b)Fallibilism

(c)Language game

(d)Nescience

(e)Nominalism

(f)Epistemic justification

(g)Constructivism

(h)Postulation (Arthapati)

MPYE004: Philosophy of Human Person

iv)Answers to question no.1 and 2 should be in about 500 words each

1.How does Heidegger differentiate between authentic and inauthentic lives? Explain how he

situates

Dasein as a being-in-the-world?

Or

Explain the basic trends in general anthropology. How is general anthropology related to

philosophical anthropology?

2. How does one respond to the Freudian challenge of psychological determinism?

Or

How is the individual self conceived across various schools in Indian philosophy?

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a) Explain Marcel‟s concept of authentic human relationship.

(b)How can human relationships be founded on Kant’s notion of persons as

“ends in themselves”? Discuss.

(c)Define self-actualization as the perfection of human transformation.

(d)Explain the basic principles of Maslow, on which he bases his humanistic psychology

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a) Discuss the concept of human dignity.

(b) Why persons are to be treated as ends in themselves?

(b) How did Skinner challenge human freedom?

(c) What is Ricoeur’s understanding of freedom?

(d)Can we differentiate between freedom and liberty?

(e) How does Marx view human being?

(f) Distinguish between general anthropology and philosophical anthropology.

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Butterfly Effect

(b)Ghost in a machine

(c)Appetite

(d)Self-actualization

(e)Animal symbolicum

(f)Death

(g)Facticity

(h)Categorical Imperative

MPYE 005: World Religions

1.Discuss the eightfold path that Buddhism suggests as a way of overcoming suffering.

Or

Write a detailed essay on the Hindu ethics.

2.Explain the core beliefs of Christianity.

Or

Explain in detail each of the articles of faith in Islam.

3.Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a) Make a detailed exposition of the doctrine of dependent origination.

(b) Explain various virtues that are practiced in Confucianism.

(c) Explain the Jewish conception of God.

(d)Give brief descriptions of the animate and inanimate substances discussed in Jainism. 10

4.Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Describe the Zoroastrian understanding of God.

(b)What was the vedic concept of God?

(c) Discuss fate and freewill as conceived in Zoroastrianism.

(d)Differentiate between the Nirguna and Saguna concepts of Brahman

(e)What are the basic principles of Jewish faith?

(f)What are the religious practices of Shintoism?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Kabbalah

(b)Eschatology

(c)Messianic age

(d)Incarnation

(e)Right faith (samyag-darshana)

(f)Aranyakas

(g)Sufism

(h)Adi Granth

MPYE 006: DALIT PHILOSOPHY Assignment

1.Analyze dalit philosopy of life. How is philosophizing from dalit perspectives unique? Explain.

Or

Enumerate the bases for Dalit Eschatology and discuss elaborately its materialist features.

2.Explain how the dalits are dehumanized through denial of due space in a caste-ridden society.

Or

Explain the characteristics of Dalit religious philosophy and examine Ambedkar’s philosophical

analysis of religion from this perspective.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Caste cuts across barriers of Religions. Explain

(b)Write a short essay on the cultural impact of globalization on India.

(c)Analyse the distinction between the features of Dalit and non-Dalit myths and cultural

symbols.

(d)Write a short essay on Periyar’s Critique of Religion.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a) What do you understand by a philosophy of liberation?

(b)What is the dalit perspective on the problem of evil?

(c)How has Buddhism affected the dalits?

(d)Discuss the Gandhi-Ambedkar debate in the dalit context.

(e)What are the Dalit expressions of self-assertion?

(f)How is caste related to dalit identity?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Subaltern

(b)Kancha Ilaiah

(c)Labour as foundation of dalit Living

(d)Dalit world-view

(e)Narayana guru

(f)Social utility

(g)Jyotirao Phule

(h)Chakalatwam

Assignment – 8 MPYE-007 Research Methodology in Philosophy

1. Compare and contrast the similarities and differences that exist in the methods of Locke,

Berkeley and Hume.

Or

Explain how a research report should be presented, making short descriptions of each sections

of a

research report.

2. Illustrate the general components of philosophical methods. How are they related to the

scientific method? Explain.

Or

Write an essay on the hermeneutical method in philosophy.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Make clear the differences between Hegel and Marxian Dialectics.

(b)Discuss Descartes’ rational method in detail.

(c)Write a note on the different tools of research.

(d)Explain the concepts of pre-understanding and semantic autonomy of the text.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Explain phenomenological reduction?

(b)What is the importance of Scientific method?

(c)What do you know about language game theory?

(d)Explain the significance of bibliography.

(e)What are the benefits of having a research methodology?

(f)Make a brief critique of dialectical method.

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Intentionality

(b)Tabula Rasa

(c)Theory of unity of opposites

(d)Hermeneutical circle

(e)Sphota

(f)Bracketing (epoche)

(g)Negation

(h)Instrumental Reason

MPY – 002: Western Philosophy

1.Elaborate Kant’s philosophy of knowledge. What is special about the philosophical method of

Kant?

Or

Explain the philosophy of God according to Aquinas. Discuss the five traditional ways to prove

the existence of God.

2. Explain the major metaphysical and epistemological issues discussed in Western Philosophy.

Or

Write an essay on Hegel‟s dialectic method and the “Philosophy of spirit”.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Discuss the fundamental principle of becoming in the philosophy of Whitehead.

(b)Write on the period of pure phenomenology in Husserl.

(c)Contrast Spinoza’s concept of substance with that of Descartes.

(d)Explain Plato’s analogy of the ideal republic in your own words.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)What are the general characteristics of feminist thought?

(b)Briefly state the characteristics of Scholasticism.

(c)What are the major themes discussed in existentialism?

(d)Write a short note describing the hermeneutic circle.

(e)What is family resemblance?

(f)Describe the theory of divine illumination in Augustine.

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Intuition

(b)The Eleatic School

(c)Bracketing (Epoché)

(d)Matters of fact

(e)Evil

(f)Necessary Conditions

(g)Intentionality of Consciousness

(h)Materialism

MPYE – 008: Metaphysics

1. Explain the starting point of Metaphysics according to different thinkers.

Or

Elaborate the early western and Indian approaches to the problem of one and many.

2. Make a detailed exposition of various intrinsic and extrinsic causes.

Or

Write a detailed essay on the scope of metaphysics.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Discuss being as tad ekam.

(b)How do you explain primary matter and substantial form from the classical perspectives?

(c)Give a detailed account of the essential nature of cause, its main divisions and its relation to

effect.

(d)How is knowledge understood as relation? Discuss the complementarity of both

ontology of relation and epistemology of relation.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Describe the problem of falsity.

(b)Explain essence as the principle of limitation.

(c)What do you understand by the absolute and relative?

(d)Describe the principle of causality (karana)

(e)Explain the principles of identity and distinction.

(f)Being is neither univocal nor equivocal but analogous. Explain.

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Maya

(b)Agapeic love

(c)Free will

(d)Paramanuvada

(e)Phantasm

(f)Ontological Truth

(g)Problem of Falsity

(h)Substantial form

MPYE – 009: Philosophy of Science and Cosmology

1. Write an essay on the major issues addressed in philosophy of science.

Or

Explain Kuhn’s notions of: a) Paradigm, b) Normal Science c) Revolutionary Science.

Also present a critical analysis of Kuhn’s theory of science.

Or

2.What is the relation between reason and faith? How Scientific Perspective of Truth differs from

Religious Perspectives? Explain.

Or

Explain the uncertainty principle. Discuss in detail the philosophical implications of uncertainty

principle.

3.Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Make a critical analysis of logical positivism

(b) Explain the relationship between philosophy of science and metaphysics

(c)Discuss the philosophical implications of uncertainty principle.

(d)Present feminist accounts of science in detail.

4.Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)What do we mean by unobservables in science?

(b)What is an island universe?

(c)Discuss the correlation between perception, thought, and language.

(d)What are the problems of inductive reasoning?

(e)Make a brief description of the steady-state theory.

(f)What do you understand by epistemological anarchism?

5.Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Space-time curve

(b)Verification theory

(c)Generalizations

(d)Falsification

(e)Schrodinger's Cat

(f)Incommensurability

(g)Inductive reasoning

(h)Paradigm

MPYE – 010: Philosophy of Religion

1.Is Liturgy an important aspect of religious structure? Explain how worship and liturgy are

related. Or

Explain the philosophical and socio-cultural roots of modern atheism

2. How do religious thinkers respond to the challenges raised by verification and falsification

principles with regard to religious language? Explain.

Or

What are the different types of religious experiences? Explain various factors involved in

religious experience.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Are organized religions necessary? Discuss.

(b)Differentiate between univocal, equivocal and analogical languages.

(c)Discuss the elements of rituals.

(d)How has modern science impacted the development of Deism? Explain.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)How does Emile Durkheim look at religious experience?

(b)Define Philosophy of religion.

(c)How does Freud look at religion?

(d)Briefly explain the problem of evil

(e)Explain the moral argument for God’s existence.

(f)What do you know about neurotheology?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Determinism and indeterminism

(b)Panentheism

(c)Agnosticism

(d)Immanence

(e)Metamorpheses

(f)Symbolism

(g)Existential Theism

(h)Functions of liturgy

MPYE – 011: Philosophy of Art (Aesthetics)

1.Write short essays on the concepts of “aesthetic experience” and “aesthetic recipient”.

Explain the key concepts of the rasa theory of Bharata.

Or

Write an essay on Aristotle’s doctrine of catharsis. How is it significant in the study of

aesthetics?

2. Make detailed exposition of various theories of rasa like Utpattivada, Anumitivada, and

Bhuktivada.

Or

Write an essay on the nature of aesthetics. Elaborate the three basic approaches to aesthetics.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Explain the concept of alaukika rasa.

(b)Write a short essay on the concept of beauty in art.

(c)Discuss the key concepts of rasa theory.

(d)Explain the sense of taste defined and redefined by Edmund Burke.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Briefly describe the representation theory of art.

(b)Is art a process?

(c)Describe the inference theory of Rasa (rasanumiti vada).

(d)What is the doctrine of Sadharnikarana?

(e)Explain the three basic approaches to aesthetics.

(f)What is Aesthetic relish?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Vyabhicarihava

(b)Rasa-brahma vada

(c)Suchness

(d)Sahrdaya

(e)Universality of the sense of beauty

(f)Alamkara

(g) Vira rasa

(h)Ancillary feelings

MPYE – 012: Tribal Philosophy

1.Make a detailed exposition of the tribal contributions to Indian civilization.

Or

Examine the need for re-tribalisation in reference to the modern hunger for tribal values.

2.Explain various factors that constitute and threaten tribal identity.

Or

What is the relationship between displacement and livelihood? Explain the problems of

displacement and rehabilitation in detail.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)What are the unique factors that signify tribal religious life? How do you look at the future of

tribal religions?

(b) Discuss the causes and consequences of tribal migration.

(c)Explain why the meaning system and philosophy of life of the agrarian communities are

based on the nature.

(d)What are the unique factors that signify tribal religious life? How do you look at the

future of tribal religions?

3.Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)What is Ethnobotany?

(b)What is the etymology and significance of the term ‘adivasi’?

(c)What was the Tana Bhagat movement?

(d)Is folk medicine related to Ayurveda?

(e)What are the general characteristics of Indian tribes according to T.B Naik?

(f)Explain the significance of oral tradition in tribal religions?

4.Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Bitlaha (Ostracism)

(b)Belief in ancestor spirits

(c)Ekalavya

(d)Sanskritization

(e)Totemism

(f)Migration and destruction of culture

(g)Disom hor

(h)Nordics

MPYE – 013: Philosophy of Technology

1. Discuss various ethical and legal issues associated with genetic engineering.

Or

Explain the scientific basis for the reflections on physical immortality.

2. What do you know about the nature of cognition in machines? Discuss artificial intelligence

and the functionalist theory of mind.

Or

Explain how research in Artificial intelligence is assisting the functionalist understanding of

human mind.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)What do you understand by the democratization of technology?

(b)Discuss the role of technology in the debate on nature, nurture, and culture.

(c)To what extend is technologization of human nature possible? Discuss.

(d)Discuss the relation between neurotheology and religious experience

2. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)How does Heidegger understand human person as a being-toward-death?

(b)What do you understand by singularity?

(c)Explain various social aspects of technology.

(d)What do you understand by the technologization of human nature?

(e)What do you understand by identities extension from biological to cybernetic identies?

(f)What are the philosophical consequences of deterministic Newtonian mechanics?

3. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Cloning

(b)Genetic discrimination

(c)Species extension

(d)Artificial intelligence

(e)Cultural transmission

(f)Cyborg

(g)Bionics

(h)Artificial intelligence

MPYE – 014: Philosophy of Mind

1. Discuss the philosophical account of perception.

Or

Explain the mind - body problem in detail. Discuss some of the positions held on it in the

contemporary philosophy of mind.

2.Give a detailed account of the various views on the survival of mind in the history of Western

Philosophy.

Or

Is any universal structure necessary in language? Discuss the western perspective on the

relation between mind and language.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Explain the Problem of other Minds.

(b)What are the significant themes discussed in the philosophy of mind?

(c)Explain Wittgenstein’s account of understanding.

(d)Is understanding as a non-conscious state or process? Discuss.

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Discuss the notion of the two horses in Plato.

(b)Why is mind-body problem treated as a category error?

(c)What do you understand by innate structure of language?

(d)What is the Buddhist theory of meaning (Apohavada)?

(e)What is mental state for a behaviourist?

(f)What do you understand by eliminative materialism?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Qualia

(b)Language of thought

(c)Antahkarana

(d)Connectionism

(e)Ghost in the machine

(f)Intentionality

(g)Animal Intelligence

(h)Physicalism

MPYE – 015: Gandhian Philosophy

1.Explain Sarvodaya as Gandhi’s social philosophy and Satyagraha as his political philosophy.

Or

Elaborate the meaning of non-violence. Explain the relevance and limitations of nonviolence.

2. Discuss the role of both reason and faith in Gandhi’s thought.

Or

Explain the dynamic meaning of ahimsa and satyagraha. Discuss their socio-political

significance.

3. Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Critically examine the Gandhian concept of God.

(b)How does Gandhi establish faith as a sure means of knowledge?

(c)Discuss the goals and philosophical foundations of sarvodaya.

(d)Write a short essay about Gandhi’s views on caste system and untouchability

4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Explain Swaraj as Self-Rule.

(b)How did Gandhi approach the question of jivan mukti?

(c)What was the Gandhi-Ambedkar controversy?

(d)Distinguish between ‘religious tolerance’ and ‘religious harmony’

(e)Briefly discuss Gandhi’s critique of civilization.

(f)What do you understand by philosophical anarchism?

5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Absolute Truth and Relative Truth

(b)Satya nasti paramo dharma

(c)Brahmanirvana

(d)Civil disobedience

(e)Karma

(f)Jivanmukta

(g)Non-cooperation

(h)Swadeshi

(i)Pacifism

MPYE – 016: Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

1. Give a detailed account Aurobindo’s educational philosophy.

Or

Explain the Absolute as unity manifesting multiplicity.

2.Discuss the nature of the absolute reality in the philosophy of Aurobindo. Explain how the

relation between matter and spirit is reconciled in cosmic consciousness?

Or

Make a detailed analysis of the understanding of human nature as explained by Aurobindo.

3.Answer any two of the following questions in about 250 words each:

(a)Can we take integral yoga as applied psychology?

(b)What is the ‘inmost being’ (the psychic) according to Aurobindo?

(c)Explain Maya as the power of becoming in the philosophy of Aurobindo.

(d)Discuss Aurobindo take on the Upanishads.

4.Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each:

(a)Elaborate the notion of upasana in Aurobindo.

(b)Briefly explain integral knowledge.

(c)What is consciousness-force?

(d)What do you understand by environmental consciousness?

(e) How does Aurobindo define the Brahman?

(f)What is the relevance of integral world-view?

(g)What are the different types of being?

5.Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each:

(a)Nescience

(b)Purusa and Prakrti

(c)Superconscient

(d)Spiritualization

(e)Sanskaras

(f)Overmind

(g)Higher levels of mind

(h)Jivataman