(Syllabus) Punjab PSC (Pre) : Combined State Civil Services Exam - Philosophy

SYLLABI FOR THE EXAMINATION PART-B PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

• Substance and Attributes : Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley’s criticism, Nyaya- Vaisesika, Buddhist criticism of Pudgala.
• God, Soul and the World : Thomas Acquinas, St. Augustine, Spinoza, Descartes, Nyaya- Vaisesika, Sankara, Ramanuja.
• Universals : Realism and Nominalism (Plato, Aristotle, Berkeley’s criticism of abstract ideas, Nyaya-Vaisesika, Buddhism).
• Bases of Knowledge : Pramanavada in Carvaka, Nyaya-Vaisesika, Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta.
• Truth and Error : Correspondence Theory, Coherence Theory, Pragmatic Theory; Khyativada (Anyathakhyati, Akhyati, Anirvacaniyakhyati).
• Matter and Mind : Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Berkeley.

• Truth and Validity.
• Classification of sentences : Traditional and Modern.
• Syllogism : Figures and Moods; Rules of Syllogism (General and special) validation by Venn Diagrammes; Formal Fallacies.
• Sentential Calculus : Symbolisation; Truth-Functions and their interdefinability; Truth Tables; Formal Proof.

• Statement of fact and statement of value.
• Right and Good; Teleology and Deontology.
• Psychological Hedonism.
• Utilitarianism (Bentham; J.S. Mill).
• Kantian Ethics.
• Problem of the freedom of will.
• Moral Judgements : Descriptivism, Prescriptivism, Emotivism.
• Niskamakrama : Sthitaprajna.
• Jaina Ethics.
• Four Noble Truths and Eight fold path in Buddhism.
• Gandhian Ethics : Satya, Ahimsa, Ends and Means.