Why Philosophy

Why Should You Offer Philosophy As An Option For Ias?

• Because no previous knowledge of the subject needed: philosophy is the only subject which does not need any previous background. Therefore, aspirants from any stream, of any subject, of any background, feel comfortable in philosophy as his/her option.
• Because you are already familiar with the subject-matter of philosophy: The contents of philosophy are very familiar to everyone of you. philosophy deals with issues concerning life, man's existence, morality, religion, society and politics, such as, right-wrong, good-bad, nature of man, god, soul, evil, moksha, equality, liberty, justice, anarchy, democracy, monarchy, Socialism, Marxism, Humanism, Secularism, Capital punishment, Gender equality, Caste discrimination, corruption, genocide and so on. Everyone is familiar to these issues. It is on account of this that it becomes very easy for everyone of any stream to understand the subject very easily. philosophy provides a logical and rational basis of all these.
• Because short Syllabus: The syllabus of philosophy is very short. There are four branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and logic, and out of these four branches only some of the parts of the first two branches form part of IAS syllabus. So this subject becomes a boon for those who desire to manage the subject within three months time, and also for those who are working and who have only short time for their preparation.
• Because high scoring subject: philosophy is high scoring subject, because its contents are almost fixed, precise, logical, and well defined.
• Because philosophy is interesting: It is interesting because it explains the real meaning and significance of life. It sets the principles to judge our actions to be right or wrong. It also fixes the norms to see whether a man is good or bad. It deals with facts of man's existence. It deals with social, political and religious issues. Some of Existentialists like Jean Paul Sartre explains reasons how a man can be happy and how he can live an authentic life. All this becomes so interesting that a student enjoys the subject.
• Because philosophy helps to prepare both GS papers and Essay: The parts of philosophy paper II, such as, socialism, Marxism, Secularism, Capital punishment, gender equality, Caste discrimination, Humanism etc. form part of the syllabus of GS Paper I. The paper IV of GS includes a branch of philosophy known as Ethics. Its orientation and perspective are moral and philosophical. This also helps in preparing essay paper. Some topics of philosophy paper II, such as, gender equality, corruption, caste discrimination, capital punishment and some related issues are always set in essay paper.