MA
PHILOSOPHY (MAPY)
Assignments
Course Titles: MPY-001: INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
MPYE-001: LOGIC
MPYE-002: ETHICS
MPYE-003: EPISTEMOLOGY
MPYE-004: PHILOSOPHY OF
HUMAN PERSON
MPYE-005: WORLD
RELIGIONS
MPYE-006: DALIT
PHILOSOPHY
MPYE-007: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN PHILOSOPHY
July 2011 and January 2012
Sessions
CBCI Chair
Indira Gandhi
National Open University
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi – 110 068
Dear Student,
Welcome to the
courses and programme of study in M.A. (Philosophy) from IGNOU. During first
year you are required to complete one assignment for each of the courses that
you have opted for.
Those enrolled
for July 2011 session must submit these assignments on or before March 30, 2012
and those of you getting enrolled for January 2012 must submit the assignments
on or before August 30, 2012. Copies of assignments are available on IGNOU
website as well.
Assignments are
open book examination and we at IGNOU assign 30 per cent weightage to the
assignment while calculating the overall grade for each course. Assignments are
to be hand-written or neatly typed and duly signed on it before its submission
in the study centre. In order to prepare a good set of assignment-responses,
you must first of all read the chapter(s) from which a particular question has
been framed. Discuss with your peer-group and academic counselors or professors
who teach you. Prepare a draft and then do the necessary correction on it
before the final version is prepared for its submission.
Make sure that
each question answer starts on a new page. For long and medium answers, ensure
that there is an introduction, sub-titles for main body and a conclusion. One
line should be left between each paragraph. Make sure your answers are specific
and in your own words and do not copy from books. Your answers will be
exclusively based on the IGNOU materials only. Preparation of assignments is
preparation for your term-end examination. Therefore take the assignments
seriously.
You must keep a
duplicate/carbon/Xerox copy of your assignment for future purpose. Always take
an acknowledgement receipt from the study-centre while submitting your
assignments. The study centre/academic counselor should return the assignment
back to you within a period of 15 to 30 days along with their comments and
marks. This will enable you to make improvement in your future sets of
assignment responses. Ensure that you read the programme guide carefully which
will answer most of your doubts. Wish you all the best for your studies.
Prof. Gracious Thomas
Date: July 2011 (Programme Coordinator)
Assignment - 1
MPY-001: INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii) Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words
each. All the answers carry 20 marks each.
1. What do
you understand by philosophy? Explain the special characteristics of Indian
philosophy.
Or
Explain the four noble truths of Buddhism. In Buddhism, what
are the methods prescribed for the cessation of suffering?
2. Explain
in detail the Atomic theory of Vaisesika.
Or
Write a detailed essay on the Jaina understanding of
reality.
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) How
does Nyaya prove the existence of God?
b) Describe
the purusharthas as the goal of life.
c) What
is the concept of Jiva according to the Visistha Advaita school of Vedanta?
d) Explain
the Vivekananda concept of universal religion.
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
a) Explain
briefly ‘Rta’, the cosmic order.
b)
What do you
understand by the theory of pratitya samutpada?
c)
Explain the anekantavada theory of Jain
Metaphysics.
d)
Write a short note on the Mimamsa concept
of sabda.
e) Explain
the Triratna of Jainism.
f) What
is S. Radhakrishnan’s concept of human being?
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
a)
Yoga siddhis
b)
Prapatti
c)
Antaryamin
d)
Pudgala
e)
Aranyaka
f)
Darsana
g) Anatma vada
h) Dhamma
Assignment – 2
MPYE-001: LOGIC
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. Narrate the growth of Symbolic Logic and its utility.
OR
Describe Proposition
and its kinds.
2. Explain the
concepts of Definition and Division.
OR
What are the two kinds of inference? Explain them with illustrations.
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
(a) Explain the Figures of Syllogism with
examples.
(b) What do you mean by Denotation and Connotation
of Terms?
(c) Describe ‘Dilemma’.
(d) Discuss the relevance of Digital Logic in
contemporary world.
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
(a) Give a formal proof of validity for the
following:
(A
v B) => C
(C v B) => (A =>
D)
A Λ D
∴ D v F
(b) What is Universal Quantifiers?
(c) Explain the Rule of Replacement.
(d) What is the scope of Logic?
(e) Differentiate ‘Proposition’ from
‘Sentence’.
(g)
Explain Modus Ponens.
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
(a)
Venn Diagram
(b)
Material Fallacies
(c)
Bi-conditional
(d)
Disjunctive Syllogism
(e)
Implication
(f)
Genus and Specific Difference
(g) Hypothesis
(h) Tautology
Assignment - 3
MPYE-002: ETHICS
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. Explain
in detail various ethical concepts in the Hindu tradition.
Or
What do you understand by Virtue
Ethics? Elaborate and Contrast it with Deontology.
2. Narrate
the development of the concept of human rights. Why is right to life considered
the prime one?
Or
Explain the
philosophical foundations behind the development of international ethics?
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) What do you understand by Situation Ethics? What are the
challenges posed by the same?
b) Explain in detail Morris
Ginsberg’s ideas “On the Diversity of Morals”.
c) Distinguish carefully between moral relativity and
ethical relativism
d) What are the Buddhist concepts of ethics?
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
a) Write a very short note on John Rawls’ Theory of Justice.
b) What do you mean by Environmental Ethics?
c) Explain the concepts ‘human freedom’ and ‘moral
responsibility’.
d) Describe in detail cultural and ethical subjectivism.
e) Elaborate Discourse
Ethics in detail.
f) How do you differentiate determinism and indeterminism?
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
a) Moral Intuition
b) Absolute Ethics
c) Perceptual
Relativism
d) Pancasila
e) Intuitionism
f) Consequentialism
g) Categorical Imperative
h) Distributive Justice
Assignment - 4
MPYE-003: EPISTEMOLOGY
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. Explain
in detail the various theories of truth accepted in the Western Thought.
Or
What do you understand by certitude? What are the different
kinds of certitude possible?
2. Which
are the major sources of valid knowledge accepted by the different schools of
Indian thought?
Or
What is ‘Epistemic Justification’? What are the various
theories of justification?
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) Describe the difference between
the theories of Internalism and Externalism
b) What are the various theories of
error (khyativada) proposed in Indian
Philosophy?
c) Explain hermaneutics? What are
the three components of hermeneutical enterprise?
d) What do you understand by Savikalpaka Pratyaksa and Nirvikalpaka Pratyaksha?
4. Answer any four of the following
in about 150 words each. All the
answers carry 5 marks each.
a) What are the three kinds of
supra normal (alaukika) perception?
b) Elaborate the
Aristotelian division of Episteme.
c) Differentiate between ‘concept’
and ‘idea’.
d) What do you understand by
‘qualia’?
e) Describe the picture theory of
language.
f) Explain foundationalism as a
theory of justification.
5. Write short notes on any
five of the following in about 100
words each. All the answers carry 4 marks each.
a) Episteme
b) Illocution
c) Fallacy
d) Sphota Theory
e) Paradigm
f) Language Game
g) Dhvani
h) Coherentism
Assignment - 5
MPYE-004: PHILOSOPHY
OF HUMAN PERSON
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. Explain living as
‘authentic existence’ and differentiate it from ‘inauthentic life’.
Or
Elaborate man’s
being as dependent, interdependent and independent existence.
2. Is man free?
Explain the concept of freedom from a psycho-social point of view as one that
unites rather than isolates.
Or
What do you mean by
self actualization? Base your answer on the hierarchy of need theory of Abraham
Maslow.
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) How Kantian
dictum of men as ‘end in themselves’ comes handy in inter personal
relationships?
b) Describe the purusharthas
as the goal of life.
c) Explain the
Heideggerian concept of ‘being in the world’.
d) Elaborate the nature of the self as portrayed in the
Upanishads.
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
a) Differentiate
between philosophical anthropology and cultural anthropology.
b) ‘Every
understanding is self understanding’. – Explain.
c) How do you
understand the human search for a meaning?
d) Explain self as Centre
of gravity.
e) Differentiate between
Resurrection and Resuscitation
f) What do you
understand by butterfly effect?
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
a) Anthropology
b) Animal symbolicum
c) Dasein
d) Freedom
e) Appetite
f) Angelism
g) Necrosis
h) Purusarthas
Assignment - 6
MPYE-005: WORLD
RELIGIONS
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. Elaborate the four noble truths of Buddhism. What is the
reason of suffering and what are the means to remove it?
Or
Explain the Jaina concept of substance and its division.
2. How far is the ashram system helpful in attaining the
purusharthas or the goals of one’s life?
Or
Explain the five pillars of faith in Islam in detail.
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) Elaborate the theory of dependent origination.
b) Do Jews believe in a life after death? Explain the different
concepts related to it.
c) What is the God concept in Christianity?
d) Explain Confusianism as a religion of virtues.
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
a) What are the basic principles of faith in Judaism?
b) Differentiate between nirguna Brahman and saguna
Brahman.
c) What are the pancavratas of Jainism?
d) Explain syadvada, the Jaina theory of judgment.
e) Mention the ethical teachings of Sikhism.
f) Explain the five relationships in Confucianism.
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
a) Astheya
b) Khalsa
c) Purusa Sukta
d) Rta
e) Tower of silence
f) Covenant
g) Yajna
h) Kami
Assignment -7
MPYE-006: DALIT
PHILOSOPHY
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. How is dalit life related to culture? Make a detailed
analysis of the culture of the dalits.
Or
Explain the social problems of the dalits with special
reference to exclusion, exploitation and elimination.
2. What is the dalit image of the divine? What are the
affective and emotive aspects of their ritualistic expressions?
Or
Does some kind of present day-ness felt while studying the
eschatological view of the dalits? How far are they naturalistic and this
worldly?
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) Spell out the phases of the process of philosophizing
from Dalit perspectives.
b) Is a theorization of subaltern independence possible?
c) Write down the features of dalit religious philosophy.
d) Explain the philosophical contribution of Jyotirao Phule
to the dalit cause.
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
a) What are the features of dalit folklore and cultural
expressions?
b) what is the philosophy of liberation?
c) How do the dalits view the problem of evil?
d) Write a short note on Ambedkar’s philosophical analysis
of religion?
e) What could be the main impact of globalization on the
dalits?
f) How does the term ‘dalit’ represent the condition of the
dalit people?
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
a) Shamanism
b) Exclusion
c) Folk lore
d) Varna
e) Globalisation
f) Sramana
g) Dalit
h) Aram
Assignment – 8
MPYE-007: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY IN PHILOSOPHY
Maximum Marks: 100
Note: (i) Answer all the five questions.
(ii)
All questions carry equal marks.
(iii)
Answer to question no. 1 and 2 should be in about 400 words each. All the answers carry 20
marks each.
1. Define research. Explain in detail various tools used in scientific
research.
Or
Explain the dialectic method. Trace its origin and usage in
the major philosophies of the West.
2. Why is a ‘review of literature’ included in a research
report? What is its purpose?
Or
Explain Wittgenstein analytical philosophy with special
reference to language game and picture theory.
3. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words each. All the answers carry 10
marks each.
a) What should be the general norms to be kept in mind while
writing a research paper?
b) Define the scientific method. Explain its evolution.
c) Explain semantic autonomy and pre-understanding of the
text.
d) Describe in detail different methods of note taking.
4. Answer any four of the following in about 150 words each. All the answers carry 5
marks each.
a) Write in brief about the method of phenomenological
reduction of Husserl.
b) what is the major difference between quantitative and
qualitative methods?
c) Write down the general form of a research paper.
d) Explain the concepts Thesis, Anti-Thesis and Synthesis.
e) Explain briefly plagiarism and describe how one can avoid
it.
f) What is a bibliography? What is its purpose?
5. Write short notes on any five of the following in about 100 words each. All the answers carry 4
marks each.
a) Tabula Rasa
b) Dialetic
c) Triangulation
d) Hypothesis
e) Appendix
f) Ellipsis
g) Cogito
h) Bracketing (epoche)
