Department

Department of Philosophy

Located in the heart of the main Humanities Block of the Arts Faculty, North Campus, facing an inner quadrangle garden, the Department of Philosophy is one of the oldest in the University of Delhi. This building constructed in the early part of the twentieth century is well known for its red brick colonial structure. The activities of the Department are also carried on in the South Campus of the University of Delhi. The South Campus Philosophy Department rooms too have the pleasant atmosphere of being situated in a modern architectural complex in South Delhi, interspaced with beautiful gardens. Both campuses are well connected with public transport.

This Department began as a combined Department of Philosophy and Psychology in the year 1953. The Department of Psychology became independent in 1962. Since then the Department of Philosophy is an Autonomous Department.

Various distinguished scholars who have either taught or been associated with the Department of Philsophy, Delhi University include N.V. Banerjee, S.S Barlingay, R. C. Pandeya, Margaret Chatterjee, S.K. Saxena, Ram Chandra Gandhi and Mrinal Miri. A large number of eminent philosophers from India and abroad have lectured in the Department. Philosophers from abroad include Donald Davidson, Willard Quine, Peter Strawson, Akeel Bilgrami, George Henrik von Wright, Karl Potter, Anil Gupta, Martha Nussbaum, Richard Sorabjee, Elliot Sober, Hajime Nakamura, Arvind Sharma, Anthony Parel, among many others. The Department has a prestigious programme of teaching and research at the level of M.A., M.Phil and Ph.D degrees respectively, covering a diversity of areas in Philosophy: Classics of Western Philosophy, Classical Indian Philosophy, Logic, Ethics, Theory of Knowledge, Philosophy of Language, Contemporary Analytic Philosophy, Indian Philosophy of Language, Phenomenology, Existentialism, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Religion and Social & Political Philosophy, among others.

The members of the Faculty of the Department have had an ongoing record of participating in seminars and conferences in India and abroad. The Department draws students for all its programmes from different parts of India and abroad. These include students visiting under the exchange programme signed with University of California, University of Ottawa and Carleton University. 

All members of the Faculty are actively engaged in research, which has resulted in the publication of a large number of books, reports, and articles in Philosophy in Indian and International journals and anthologies. The Department has also undertaken several research projects during the last four decades. Recently, it organized a twenty-one days Refresher Course in “Logic and Language”; and an International seminar on “I, We and the Other: Asymmetries of Moral Evaluation” 
The Department has a large library of its own catering to the needs of the Masters and Research students, and research interests of the faculty members. There is a spacious reading room and seminar hall. Facilities like computers, printing and internet connections have been provided in the seminar room cum library. Special equipments are available in the Department for viewing of films, power point projections etc.

The Department regularly holds its special lectures, seminars and discussion groups in the Library cum Seminar room.