Revised MPhil Syllabus 2018 191 1 Syllabus Mumbai University by munotes
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University of Mumbai
Department of Philosophy
M. Phil Degree and Ph. D Degree in PHILOSOPHY (Faculty of
Humanities)
All prospective research scholars for M.Phil and Ph. D will submit an application to
the Department of Philosophy to enroll into the programme.
The process of admission includes su bmitting all relevant documents and an
interview.
For both M.Phil and PhD PET/NET/SET clearance is required.
PET validi ty is no for three years as per new VCD 947 of 2018
The Department of Philosophy will follow the University of Mumbai VCD /947of
2018 available on the Uni versity of Mumbai Department of Philosophy Website
(www.mu.ac.in/philosophy/ MA/M.Phil/PhD )
The following four papers will be offered as course work in the M. Phil programme
with 4 credits each for Paper I (Research Methodology) and paper I II (Advance
course in P hilosophy titled ‘Critiques in Philosophy’ ) and three credits each for
Paper II ( Study of a Philosophical Text -I ) and Paper IV ( Study of a
Philosophical Text -II ) totaling 14 credits .
Semester I
Paper I Research Methods & Techniques (3 Credits) ( Three hours of
teaching per week) plus Self- study component comprised of academic tasks
assigned in class leading to internals evaluation for 1 credit : Total 4 credits
Paper II Study of a Philosophical Text (I): Critical Study of an Indian /Western
Text as decided every year by Faculty of the Department ( 2 Credits) (Two hours of
teaching per week) plus Self- study component comprised of academic tasks
assigned in class leading to internals evaluation for 1 credit : Total 3 Credits
Semester II
Paper III Critiques in Philosophy (3 Credits) (Three hours of teaching per week)
plus Self- study component comprised of academic tasks assigned in class leading to
internals evaluation for 1 credit : Total 4 Credits
Paper IV Study of a Philosophical Text ( II): Critical Study of an Indian /
Western Text as decided every year by Faculty of the Department ( 2 Credits) (Two
hours of teaching per week) plus Self- study component comprised of academic
tasks assigned in class leading to internals evaluation for 1 credit : Total 3 Credits
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Semester I
Paper I : Research Methodology and Techniques
Unit 1 (25)
1. Forms of Research : Report, Article, Assignm ent, Dissertation, and Thesis;
2. Data collection: Qualitative and Quantitative meth ods, Text as data in
philosophy
3. Computer Applications
Unit II (25)
4. Natural Scien ce and Social Science Research
5. Philosophical Research and Scientific Research.
6. Ethics of Research: Avoiding plagiarism in research.
Unit III (25)
7. Methods and Methodology
8. Methods in Western Philosophy - Analytical, Phenomenological, Dialectical,
Feminist
9. Methods in Indian Philosophy - Empiricist, Rationalist, Exegetical, Sceptical
There will be an external examination of the Research Methods and Techniques
paper for 75 marks and 25 marks are for internal evaluation
References :
1. Balasubrmanian, R. Research Methodology in Philosophy. Madras: RIASP,
1984.
2. Buchler, Justus 1961 The Concept of Method. Lo ndon: Columbia University
Press.
3. Carnap, Rudolf 1966 “The Experimental Method” in Philosophical
Foundations of Physics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science , New
York: Basic Books.
4. Collingwood, R.G. 1933 An Essay on Philosophical Method , Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
5. Cummins & Slade 1979 Writing the Research Paper - Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co 6. Dilthey, Wilhelm. 1996 . Hermeneutics and the Study of
History: Selected Works, Volume IV. Edited by R. A. Makkreel and F. Rodi.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
7. Hempel, Carl. 1966 (1932) “The Function of General Laws in History” in
20th Century Philosophy: The Analytic Tradition ed. Morris Weitz, 254 -68.
New York: The Free Press
8. Kothari C.R.1985 Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques. New
Delhi: Wiley Eastern Ltd.
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9. ParsonsC.F 1973 Thesis and Project Work London: George Allen and
Unwin.
10. Passmore, John 1961 Philosophical Reasoning. London: Gerald
Duckworth.
11. Feinberg, Joel 2002 Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of
Philosophy Papers Wadsworth: Belmont
12.Martinich, A.P. 1995 Philosophical Writing: An Introduction Blackwell:
Malden
13. Makkreel, Rudolf. 2009. “Hermeneutics” in A Companion to the
Philosophy of History and Historiography ed. Aviezer Tucker, 529-539.
Malden MA and Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
14. MLA Handbook 8th Edition
15. Passmore, John 1961Philosophical Reasoning. London: Gerald Duckworth
16. Sherratt, Yvonne. 2006. Continental Philosophy o f Social Science:
Hermeneutics, Genealogy and Critical Theory from Greece to the Twenty -
First Century Cambrid ge: Cambridge University Press.
17. Vaughn, Lewis Writing Philosophy: A Student’s Guide to Writing
Philosophy Essays .
18. Wallerstein, Immanuel et al.1996. Open the Social Sciences: Report of the
19. Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences New
Delhi: Vistaar Publications
Paper II : Study of One Philosophical Text (I) (75)
In this paper a student is required to make a critical study of one philosophical text
with the help of the guiding teacher. The text may be chosen with the help of the
guiding teacher at the beginning of the course as per the course requirement of the
students and keepin g in mind their dissertation topic. The texts selected for study
will be submitted to the Department Research C ommittee /Research Advisory
Committee for approval
The student should give in writing the text which she or he wishes to study and
prepare a bib liography of the articles and books related to it. She or he will have to
read the text critically, present the key arguments in the text and justify the
appraisal given. The student is also expected to critically evaluate what others have
said about the text.
There will be an external examination for this paper for 75 marks and internal
assessment for 25 marks.
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Semester II
Paper III : Critiques in Philosophy
Unit I
Post Positivist Responses and Challenges (25)
a. Problems of Induction and Critical Rationality (Karl Popper )
b. The Two Dogmas of Empiricism (WVO Quine )
c. On the very idea of a conceptual scheme (Davidson)
d. Incommensurability ( Thomas Kuhn )
Unit II
Contribution of Contemporary Indian Thinkers (25)
1. Nature, place and status of Mysticism in Indian tradition: (Matilal B.K, “The
Logical Illumination of Indian Mysticism”)
2. Is the Indian -Western divide in Philosophy justified? (Mohanty J.N. “What the
East and the West can learn from each other in Philo sophy?”)
3. A methodological look at the pre -suppositions of Indian Philosophy: (Daya
Krishna, “Three Conceptions of Indian Philosophy”)
4. Situating Buddha: (Kulkarni N.G, “Was the Buddha A Rationalist?”)
Unit III: (25)
Structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives on language:
a)Ferdinand de Saussure: influence, sign -signifier, langue -parole, structure
b)Michel Foucault - appropriation of Nietzsche, critique of modern human
sciences; archaeological project; discourse on language
c)Jacques Derrida: appropriation of Heidegger, critique of phonocentrism,
différance
d)Luce Irigaray: critique of “specula(riza)tion”, “Woman” as a placeholder for
différance , writing the feminine, “mechanics’ of fluids”
Beyond the symbolic order:
a)Gilles Deleuze: appropriation of Bergson & renewal of metaphysics, from a
“logic of sense” (language) to thinking (with F élix Guattari) on “bodies
without organs” (nature)
b)Rosi Briadotti: difference, gendered nomadism, zōē’s biological
egalitar ianism
c)Alain Badiou: appropriation of Plato & Marx, ontology and mathematics,
event.
d)Slavoj Žižek: appropriation of German idealism & Marx, subject and
ideology, the Real.
(Any four topics in Unit III may be covered)
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Reading List
Unit I: References
1. Popper Karl, The Logic of Scientific Discovery , Hutchinson, London, 1959
2. Quine WVO, “Two dogmas of Empiricism” in Philosophical Review (60)
1951.
3. WVO, Quine, “Epistemology Naturalized” in Ontological Relativity and
Other Essays, Columbia University Pres s, New York, 1969.
4. Kuhn Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, 1962.
Unit II: References
1. Philosophy, Culture and Religion: Mind Language and World -The Collected Essays
of Bimal Krishna Matilal Ed. By Jonardan Ganeri, OUP, Delhi, 2002 pp. 38 -64
2. Explorations in Philosophy: Indian Philosophy - Essays By J.N. Mohanty, Ed. Bina
Gupta, Oxford, 2001 pp.83 -101
3. Indian Philosophy: A Counter Perspective, by Daya Krishna, OUP, Delhi, New York,
1991 pp. 16 -34
4. Philosophical Reasoning: Critical Essays on Issues in Metaphysics, Language, Logic,
Ethics and Indian Philosophy by Prof. N.G. Kulkarni, Ed. By Geeta Ramana, Sarvodaya
Books, New Delhi, 2015 pp.373 -381
Unit III References
Badiou, Alain 2003 Infinite Thought: Truth and the Return to Philosophy Continuum:
London and New York
2005 Being and Event Continuum: London and New York
Briadotti, Rosi 1993 “Embodiment, Sexual Difference, and the Nomadic Subject”
Hypatia , 8 (1), pp. 1 -13
1994“Toward a New Nomadism: Feminist Deleuzian Tracks; or,
Metaphysics and Metabolism,” in Constantin Boundas & Dorothea Olkowski
(eds.) Gilles Deleuze and the Theatre of Philosophy Routledge: New York
2002 Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming Polity:
Cambridge
2006 Transpositions On Nomadic Ethics Cambridge Malden: Polity Press
2009 “Animals, Anomalies, and Inorganic Others” PMLA , 124 (2): 526 -532
Derrida, Jacques 1989/1978 Edmund H usserl's Origin of Geometry: An Introduction
University of Nebraska Press: Nebraska
1978 Writing and Difference University of Chicago Press: Chicago
1982 Margins of Philosophy , tr., Alan Bass, University of Chicago Press:
Chicago
2002 “ Geschlecht: Sexual Difference, Ontological Difference” in Heidegger
Reexamined vol 1 ed. Hubert Dreyfus and Mark Wrathall Routledge: New York and
London
Deleuze, Gilles 1990 (1969) The Logic of Sense Columbia University Press: New York
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& Félix Guttari 1987 (1980) A Thousand Plateaus University of Minnesota
Press: Minneapolis
1988 (1986) Foucault University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis
Foucau lt, Michel 1973 (1966) The Order of Things Vintage: New York
1972 ( 1969) The Archaeology of Knowledge Harper and Row: New
York
2003 Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France 1974 -75 Verso: London
Gatens, Moira 2000 Feminism as "Password": Re -Thinking the "Possible" with
Spinoza and Deleuze” Hypatia , 15 (2): 59 -75
Glendinning, Simon 1999 Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy
Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh (Relevant essays)
Gutting, Gary, 1989 Michel Foucault's Archaeology of Scientific Re ason Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge
Irigaray Luce 1985a Speculum of the Other Woman . Ithaca: Cornell University Press
1985b This Sex which is not One. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
2004 “Towards a Sharing of Speech” in her Key Writings , 77-94. London:
Continuum.
Saussure, Ferdinand de 2011 (1916) Course in General Linguistics Columbia
University Press: New York
Sturrock, John 1979 Structuralism and Since Oxford University Press : Oxford
Žižek, Slavoj 2003 (1993) Tarrying with the Negative: Kant, Hegel and the Critique of
Ideology Duke University Press: Durham
Students can refer to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Paper IV : Study of One Philosophical Text (II) (75)
In this paper a student is required to make a critical study of one philosophical text
with the help of the guiding teacher. The text may be chosen with the help of the
guiding teacher at the beginning of the course as per the course requirement of the
students and keepin g in mind their dissertation topic. The texts selected for study
will be submitted to the department research committee for approval
The student should give in writing the text which he or she wishes to study and
prepare a bibliography of the articles and books related to it. She or he will have to
read the text critically, present the key arguments in the text and justify the
appraisal given. The student is also expected to critically evaluate what others have
said about the text.
There will be an exter nal examination for this paper for 75 marks and internal
assessment for 25 marks.
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University of Mumbai
Department of Philosophy
Ph. D Degree in PHILOSOPHY (Faculty of Humanities)
Ph. D Degree
1. The course work for Ph. D in Philosophy will follow the Papers and Syllabi offered in
the M. Phil programme (2018 -19) offered during the second half of the t erm,
that is October - November and will consist of the following:
a. Four Credit course in paper titled “ Research Methodology and Techniques ”
b. Six Credit course in Study of Two Philosophical Text s (Texts Offered One in
Each Semester)
c. Two Credit Advanced C ourse o f Paper titled “Critiques in Philosophy”. This
means that the research scholar attend s course for one unit and attempts a
written test (external evaluation) for 2 5 marks in any one unit of this paper
Further she/he submits an assignment for 25 marks (in ternal evaluation
which includes self - study component and academic tasks) in that unit for
one credit. In all there will be two credits for this course.
The research scholar will require 75 % attendance in each of the
three credit courses as detailed above.
The evaluation and credit for the course work will follow the
academic structure and modality indicated in the M.Phil programme
(which is for 14 credits ) and will also partially offer the course to
students registered for a Ph.D for 12 credits.
A course c ompletion certificate will thereafter be issued on passing
the above 12 credit course work with 55% or its equivalent in the
UGC 7 point scale in the course work which will be required to submit
the synopsis of thesis (PhD) or dissertation.
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