Covers classical and contemporary philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and Indian philosophical traditions, for candidates interested in philosophical research and critical inquiry.

GATE Humanities and Social Sciences - Philosophy

Official 2025 syllabus extracted from https://gate2025.iitr.ac.in/doc/2025/GATE%20_XH-C4_2025_Syllabus.pdf

Classical Indian Philosophy

Sānkhya: Puruṣa, Prakṛti, Guṇas, Satkāryavāda, Mokṣa (Kaivalya), Pramāṇas, Theory of Error

Yoga: Pramāṇas, Theory of Error, Iśvara, Citta, Kleśa, Aṣṭānga-yoga, Kaivalya

Nyāya: Pramāṇas, Hetvābhāsa, Iśvara, Asatkāryavāda, Theory of Error

Navya-Nyāya

Vaiśeṣika: Parataḥprāmāṇya, Padārthas, Theory of Atomism (paramāṇuvāda)

Mīmāmsā: Dharma, Apūrva, Mokṣa, Pramāṇas (Kumārila and Prabhākara), Anyathākhyāti

Vedānta: Advaita (Adhyāsa, Brahman, Iśvara, Ātman, Jīva, Mokṣa)

Viśiṣṭādvaita (Tattva-traya, Mokṣa, refutation of Māyāvāda)

Dvaita, Dvaitādvaita, Śuddhādvaita

Pramāṇa in Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita

Orthodox Systems

Cārvāka: Pramāṇa, Indian materialism, Hedonism

Jainism: Pramāṇas, Syādvāda, Anekāntavāda, Padārtha, Jīva and Ajīva, Mokṣa, Mahāvrata, Aṇuvrata

Buddhism: Ti-piṭaka, Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, Mādhyamika, Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda

Pañca-skandha, Anityavāda, Anātmavāda

Doctrine of Momentariness

Doctrine of Dependent Origination

Pramāṇas, Doctrine of Two Truths

Doctrine of Tri-kāya

Ṣaḍ-pāramitās, Brahmavihāras, Pāñcaśīla

Bodhisattva Ideal and Upāyakauśalya

Heterodox Systems

Philosophy of the Upaniṣads: Pure Monism, Brahman and Ātman

Pañca-kośa

Parā-vidyā and Aparā-vidyā

Meaning of Dharma, Ṛta

Purusārtha, Śreyas and Preyas

Varṇāśrama-dharma

Svadharma and Sādhāraṇa Dharma

Ṛna, Yajña

Karma-yoga, Sthitaprajña, Lokasaṃgraha

Law of Karma

Upaniṣads, Bhagavadgītā, and Dharmaśāstras

Kāṣmīra Śaivism: Pratyābhijña school, Śiva and Śakti, conception of Kriyā

Śaivasiddhānta: God (pati) and Divine Power (śakti), Proofs for God, Bondage and Liberation

Vīra Śaivism: Philosophical basis

Śāktism: Philosophical basis

Vaiṣṇavism: Philosophical basis

Kāṣmira Śaivism, Śaivasiddhānta, Vīra Śaivism, Śāktism and Vaiṣṇavism

Contemporary Indian Philosophy

Vivekananda: Notion of God, Freedom and Karma, Self, Practical Vedanta, Universal Religion

Aurobindo: Involution and Evolution, Four Theories of Existence, Supermind, Integral Yoga, Gnostic Being

Iqbal: Intuition, Self, God

Tagore: Humanism, Religion, Nationalism

K.C. Bhattacharyya: Absolute, Subjectivity and Freedom

Radhakrishnan: Ultimate Reality, Religious Experience, Intellect and Intuition, Hindu View of Life

J. Krishnamurti: Freedom, Choiceless Awareness, Truth as Pathless Land, Education

Gandhi: Truth, Non-violence, Satyagraha, Swaraj, Trusteeship

Ambedkar: Annihilation of Caste, Neo-Buddhism, Democracy, Natural Rights and Law

M.N. Roy: Radical Humanism and Materialism

Modern Indian Thinkers

Classical and Modern Western Philosophy

Pre-Socratic Philosophy: Thales, Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Ionians, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Democritus

Plato's metaphysics: Being as Idea (Phaedo, Republic, Sophist)

Aristotle's metaphysics: hyle and morphe

Problem of evil and existence of God in Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas

Substance, mind-body dualism, attribute, parallelism, pre-established harmony

Existence of God

Problem of solipsism

Self and personal identity

Rejection of metaphysics

Phenomena and noumena

Transcendental deduction of categories

Being and becoming

Absolute idealism

Metaphysics

Plato and Aristotle's theory of knowledge: Doxa, Episteme, Sophia

Method of dialectics

Theoretical and practical reason

Theory of causation

Descartes' method of doubt, cogito ergo sum

Innate ideas and refutation

Principle of non-contradiction

Sufficient reason, identity of indiscernibles

Locke's three grades of knowledge

Berkeley's critique of abstract ideas

Hume's impressions and ideas, induction and causality

Kant's Copernican revolution, forms of sensibility, synthetic a priori judgments

Hegel's dialectics, Spirit, absolute idealism

Epistemology

Good, right, justice, duty, obligation, cardinal virtues, eudaemonism

Teleological and deontological theories

Egoism, altruism, universalism, subjectivism, cultural relativism, super-naturalism

Ethical realism and intuitionism

Kant's moral theory: postulates, good-will, categorical imperative, duty, means and ends, maxims

Utilitarianism: Bentham, Mill, Sidgwick

Theories of punishment

Ethical cognitivism and non-cognitivism

Emotivism, prescriptivism, descriptivism

Ethics

Plato's theory of justice and state

Aristotle's political naturalism

Classical liberalism and social contract theory: Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke

Marx's dialectical materialism, alienation, critique of capitalism

Social and Political Philosophy

Truth and validity

Nature of propositions

Categorical syllogism

Laws of thought

Classification of propositions

Square of opposition

Truth-functions and propositional logic

Quantification and rules of quantification

Symbolic logic and truth tables

Deductive vs inductive logic

Causality and Mill's method

Logic

Contemporary Western Philosophy

Frege's sense and reference

Logical positivism: verification theory of meaning, elimination of metaphysics

Moore: sense and reference, common-sense, proof of external world

Russell's logical atomism, definite descriptions, refutation of idealism

Wittgenstein: picture theory, critique of private language, meaning and use, forms of life

Ryle: systematically misleading expressions, critique of Cartesian dualism

Quine's Two Dogmas of Empiricism

Strawson's concept of person

Husserl's phenomenological method, intentionality, phenomenological reduction, intersubjectivity

Heidegger's Dasein, Being-in-the-world

Sartre's freedom, bad-faith, humanism

Merleau-Ponty: perception, embodied consciousness

William James: pragmatic theory of meaning and truth, varieties of religious experience

GATE Humanities and Social Sciences - Philosophy Syllabus 2025, 2026 and more: Subjects, Topics, and What to Study