Department of Philosophy

THRUST AREAS

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, AMU, ALIGARH

The Department of Philosophy AMU, Aligarh is known for its critical and analytical studies in various areas like Indian Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy and Western Philosophy.

1. Indian Philosophy:

The Department provides systematic, coherent and comprehensive training in Indian traditions of philosophy based on the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and the atheistic versions like Buddhism, Jainism and Charvaka etc. at undergraduates, masters and doctoral levels.

The Department also focuses on the textual studies of selected thinkers like Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and Tagore’s Nationalism. In addition to these, the Department also carries on research in classical Indian philosophy as well as the philosophies of modern Indian thinkers like Gandhi, Tagore, Aurobindo, M.N Roy, Radhakrishnan and other eminent scholars.

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2. Islamic Philosophy:

The Department of Philosophy AMU, Aligarh provides systematic, coherent and comprehensive training in Islamic Philosophical traditions based on its primary sources, the Qur’an, the Hadith and the elaborations of great Companions of the Prophet as well as Islamic philosophers, reformers, Aestheticians, Sufis etc., and also the Schools of Islamic Philosophy as Mu’tazilism, Ash’arism, Shī‘ism, Sufism etc., at Undergraduates, Masters and Doctoral levels.

The Department also focuses on the textual studies of selected thinkers like Ghazali’s Al-Munquidh min ad-Dalal and Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah. In addition to these, the Department also carries on research in classical Islamic Philosophy, Sufism, as well as the philosophies of modern Islamic Indian thinkers and Sufis like Sir Sayyid, Syed Ameer Ali, Iqbal, Azad, Moin ud-Din Chishti, Syed Ali Hamadānī, Kabir, and other eminent philosophers like. Al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Rushd, Shahabuddin Suhrawardi, Mutahharī, Ali Shariatī, Seyyed Hossein Nasr etc. at undergraduates, Masters and Doctoral levels.

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3. Western Philosophy:

The Department is also committed to maintaining excellence in the major subject areas in Western Philosophy. It covers almost all the philosophical developments in the West stem from ancient Greek philosophy to post- modern and post- structuralist theories. Observing the growing intensification of pragmatic approach in education, it also offers courses in Feminism Philosophy, Gender Studies, Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Language and other socio political systems of thought which enlarge the area of higher studies, research, and participate in innovative programs that help to build interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary connection with other areas of inquiry to emphasise philosophy’s social relevance in today’s world.

The Department offers four Open Elective courses both at Undergraduate and Post Graduate level i.e. Introduction to Philosophy-1 (PYB 591) and Existentialist Philosophy (PYB 592) at UG level, Post – Modernism (OPY2091) and Introduction to Philosophy- II (OPY 2092) at PG level for students from other disciplines than Philosophy to foster the interdisciplinary approach in teaching and learning.

Keeping in view of the textual orientation among students it also offers two courses, based on the original text i.e. Sartre’s Existentialism and Humanism (PYB 681) and Bertrand Russell’s The Problem of Philosophy (PYB 682).

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