If you are inquisitive and have a logical mind, Philosophy is right for you

If you are inquisitive and have a logical mind, Philosophy is right for you


Philosophy, which literally means love of wisdom, is one of the oldest academic disciplines besides Mathematics. In the Indian context, it also implies a way of living life righteously.
Hence, philosophical analysis refers to intellectual and reflective method for attempting to compre- hend the underlying principles and to dis- cover normative crite- ria. At the same time, philosophical activity refers to rational and critical examination or a critique of the most basic elements of our everyday life sit- uations and experi- ences. Philosophy differs from other aca- demic disciplines in mainly being nor- mative. For example, when philosopher states that human beings are rational beings, it is not a descriptive statement of how humans behave but how they need to act. The normative function of philosophy also implies an attempt to unravel or conceptually analyse the fun- damentals of underlying principles.
Accordingly, it can be argued that philo- sophical enquiry and methodology dif- fer sharply from natural sciences and other social sciences as well.
The BA (H) Philosophy course is being taught at 15 colleges of Delhi University and is being taught as inter- disciplinary credit course for various BA Honours courses and as Discipline course for BA Programme in most col- leges.
Students pursuing the BA (H) Philosophy course in DU have to study papers such as Logic, Elements of Indian Philosophy, History of Western Philosophy and Text of Indian Philosophy and Ethics as compulsory papers and rest three are optional papers. For instance, there are options to choose from Social and Political Philosophy, Early and Later Greek Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Language, Contemporary Philosophy, Aesthetics and Philosophy of Logic.
A student needs to be inquisitive, be able to have a critical insight, needs to have good command over language and be able to put things in perspective besides having a flair for logical analy- sis. However, any intelligent minded and a keen learner can pursue this course.
(The course profile on BSc (H) Biomedical Sciences published on Wednesday erroneously mentioned that admission to the course is through entrance examination. Admission is based on merit.)

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