BA in Philosophy
An attempt to understand how we live and explore the world of ideas in conversations with one another.
Introduction
Some things are so obvious that they are hidden from us. How do you know that you aren’t dreaming? Are you the same person who started reading this sentence? Why exactly is murder wrong, and how do we know it? What makes something beautiful, or ugly, or awkward?
At the same time, the world around us is full of need. People live needlessly difficult lives.
Philosophy at Azim Premji University prepares you to answer both the hidden questions and the practical need.
We start with wondering about the big questions. You will sharpen these wonderings into clear arguments, and learn to find your own alternative views. Along the way, you will pick up rare and vital capabilities: communicating clearly, working with those you profoundly disagree with, coming up with your own ideas and testing them thoroughly. And you will practice applying your insights and capabilities to the world around you, through seminar discussions and work outside the university, in the field.
Visit our Philosophy microsite for faculty podcast, Student blogs, videos, and more.
Active and self-directed learning
Our courses help you make sense of your experiences and apply your philosophical capabilities in your social context and the world. Our courses are designed to help you reason with care, communicate with people with views different than your own, write and present your ideas simply and clearly.
You will learn to question assumptions, develop your own arguments and views, analyse arguments critically, and collect evidence accurately. Our hope is that you will develop curiosity and empathy in your intellectual pursuits, and a commitment to public service.
Accessible to all students
We believe that the practice of philosophical thought should be made easy for anybody to understand, and our programme is designed to help you no matter what your caste, class, region or language background.
Apply philosophical ideas to practical contexts, and a wide choice of careers
Our programme will help you engage with challenges of representation and exclusion in society, which will help you in roles in NGOs, civil service, education and journalism. We train you to find creative solutions for complex problems.
Our philosophy programme was developed with leaders in public service, educators and academic philosophers from around the world.
WE BRING YOU INTERDISCIPLINARY OPENNESS
Our degree encourages you to explore and follow your interests. We design our courses to ensure that you can specialise in a subject of your choice while learning a variety of subjects across disciplines.
A COMMON CURRICULUM FOR ALL STUDENTS
You will meet all your classmates at the beginning of your degree to build all the tools you need for your three years of study. This includes foundational courses, an understanding of India, interdisciplinary studies, and a workshop in creative expressions.
WE OFFER ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE
We provide active academic assistance and ensure that you are able to meet the requirements of the academic programme to fulfil your aspirations.
WE ENSURE FINANCIAL SUPPORT
We ensure that no student has to drop out of university because of financial trouble or social disadvantage. We provide financial assistance to deserving students.
Living on campus
We believe that learning happens both inside and outside the classroom. In living together, you can meet and encounter diverse people from different social and cultural backgrounds and experiences. Our campus has a range of activities from discussion groups to sports and clubs for our students and faculty to interact with each other and build meaningful relationships over their years of study.
Know more about the Bengaluru campus, here.
Know more about Azim Premji University at Bhopal, here.
Course structure
Our courses are designed to help you develop a philosophy toolbox with which you can think independently and respond to various scenarios and contexts. You will learn to reason rigorously, communicate with clarity, and critically engage with complex texts. We hope that you will be able to find creative solutions to complex problems, and learn to speak with people from different backgrounds, socially and ideologically, through seminars, field trips and discussions.
Please visit this page to learn more about our four-year undergraduate programmes.
The Common Curriculum will introduce students to the study of the themes and areas that emphasise and build critical and analytical abilities, and sensibilities for dialogue, reflection and cooperative learning. The Common Curriculum has three sub-components organised as below:
Foundations: Build capacity for critical thinking, reasoning and communication.
Understanding India: India’s history, society and possible futures
Creative Expressions: Explore music, visual art, theatre, dance, martial arts, yoga, pottery, sport, and other creative areas.
In the core courses, you will work on themes that help you learn rigour, creativity and self-examination.
Introduction to Philosophy
Core
This course equips students with core philosophical capabilities, especially working with others you disagree with, clarity of expression, and building the foundations of rigorous creativity.
Paradoxes
Core
This course introduces formal systems as tools to solve specific problems, giving students the capacity to evaluate which (and whether) a particular formal system is appropriate for the problem before them.
Ethics
Core
In this course students focus on ethics as applied to concrete ethically troubling contexts within the broader context of India and learn to come up with their own views and criticisms.
Philosophy of Science
Core
This course aims to enable students to rigorously engage with, and critically evaluate, scientific and social scientific work.
Political Philosophy
Core
This course will acquaint students with major political ideologies in India and enable them to talk to and work with those they disagree with on political issues.
Philosophy of Art
Core
In this course, we will investigate the nature of artworks and the role they play in our lives; we will focus on specific problem cases and concrete artworks in order to answer these questions.
Philosophy of Measurement
Core
In this course, students will gain the capability of identifying and evaluating the normative presuppositions of different measurements through detailed case studies.
The Self
Core
In using insights from both analytic philosophy and Indian philosophy to grapple with questions about the self, students will develop the capability to draw ideas from one tradition to solve problems that arise in another.
Philosophy of Religion
Core
The special aim of this course is to give students the capability of understanding and working with others from any of the major religions of India.
Philosophy of the Environment
Core
In this capstone course, students bring together the different parts of philosophy they have studied in order to analyse problems about the relationship between humans and the environment as well as the value and moral and political status of the environment.
Field Practice in Philosophy
Core
Apply your philosophical capabilities and ideas to new problems and practical contexts.
Philosophy of Nonviolence and Civil Disobedience
Core
We'll debate whether civil disobedience undermines or strengthens democracy and consider if non-violence can ever be justified.
You can choose a stream with four courses each in a discipline outside philosophy.
Education
You will apply your philosophical capacities to the discipline of education.
Human Nature and Epistemology
Elective
The nature of knowledge and human beings.
Philosophy of Education 1 and 2
Elective
A two-part course going over the concepts, methodologies and interdisciplinary intersections that determine educational action in various contexts.
Indian perspectives on knowledge and education
Elective
What are Indian ideas about what education and knowledge ought to be?
Economics
We live in a world with economic data and models as a central part of public service and life. With these courses, you will benefit from using your philosophical abilities to the discipline of economic thought. You will work with constructing models, evaluating economic policies and work with data.
Introduction to Economics I
Core
Understand "real-world" problems through key economic concepts.
Introduction to Economics II
Core
How does the Indian economy work, and how has it changed over the course of the 20th century?
Political Economy
Core
Why, in the 21st century, are some workers still not entitled to bathroom breaks?
Economics and Ethics
Elective
How do economists tackle open-ended questions about welfare, equality, justice and freedom?
Students must be prepared for the world of work at the end of the programme should they choose to enter it. We aim to provide the required skills and competencies for this through a Minor featuring courses in an Occupational or Interdisciplinary theme. These sets of courses are aimed to provide both conceptual understanding and skills and tools that will allow students to contribute through work and further study.
Students can opt for a minor in any one of the indicative areas listed below:
- Education
- Media and Journalism
- Data and Democracy
- Sports and Fitness
- Climate Studies
- Arts
The selection of these indicative areas is based on the availability of courses and our evaluation of the student’s interests and academic needs. For each cohort, a final list of available courses will be announced at the end of their second semester.
Students can craft their own educational experience by selecting courses in the following ways:
- Students will have the option to take additional courses in their Disciplinary major
- Interdisciplinary minor that will enable them for their further higher studies or career pathways.
These courses could also be selected to enhance and broaden their
- Language skills and Quantitative reasoning capacities/programming skills
- Understanding of themes outside their Major subject.
