The department of philosophy, Mata Sundri College, was established in the year 1969 and is among fourteen colleges of the university that offer Philosophy (Hons.) at graduate level. The department is engaged in teaching Philosophy courses for different honours and program courses. Philosophy as a discipline is foundational in character. It engages with the fundamental questions about the nature of reality, knowledge and how we ought to live. The discipline aims to enhance thinking, critical reasoning, analytical problem-solving skills, and skill of expression. To equip students to do philosophy without boundaries and to develop these skills a number of curricular and co-curricular activities are organized by the department. Seminars, conferences, talks with experts in the field, student paper presentations, debates, quiz etc. provide the students an opportunity to interact with eminent scholars and develop the intellectual extent to appreciate and engage rationally with arguments and points of view beyond their own. This year the department in collaboration with the IQAC, introduced peer mentoring and a research programme along with a short-term course on Building a Positive Self Image for Success.
Since a student of Philosophy can ace logical reasoning, decision-making and ethics this discipline well prepares the philosophy graduate for higher studies in philosophy or a career in e.g. media, law, business, or consulting, to take competitive exams to enter government services, journalism, design, or make an application to Ivy league schools abroad.
Thus, it will be fair to say that the discipline of Philosophy as taught in the department is a nourishing ground for any prospective student. For us, education is not only about academics but also about the overall personality development of each and every student. We believe, while academic performance is imperative for success, it is also critical for our youth to be able to manage the life challenges with confidence.
The Department of Philosophy aims to create a conscious awareness in the students about the fundamentals of the subject and its relevance in various walks of their life. It equips them with conceptual clarity and analytical ability to facilitate application of theory into practice to achieve the ultimate objective of education to enable a student to become an asset to : oneself, one’s family and one’s society.
The department has an active association ASTITVA. The annual activity of student election provides an opportunity to students to find in themselves a leader. The student council of the Department consists of 4 office bearers- President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint Secretary, selected by a majority The elected students along with other members actively organize and participate in various inter and intra college activities. aimed at overall personality development of the students.
“PEHEL” is the annual E-Newsletter of the department. This space serves as a creative platform to aspiring philosophers, students and professors alike to express their philosophical concerns and questions from various fields It is a wide-ranging collection of an articles, essays poetry, puzzles art works and the like, of students and faculty members.
The students are required to attend not less than 68% of the lectures during each semester in order to enable them to appear for university examinations.
A continuous process of internal assessment takes place during each semester that includes theory as well as practicum courses. The assessing procedures usually include written assignments, projects, house exam and presentations. Final examinations are held in the month of November and May.
It is mandatory for a student to secure minimum 40% marks in each theory paper during final examinations, 40% in the internal assessment, 40% in all Practicum courses taken together and 40% in the aggregate for each semester, to pass the examination.