UPSC Mains 2018 Philosophy Optional Paper II questions

26 questions from the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2018. Official UPSC paper (PDF) · All Philosophy Optional PYQs

1. What is meant by liberal democracy? Does it require deeper principles for social cohesion to balance its own strong affirmation of individual rights? Give reasons from the Indian context.

   10 marks

2. Do you subscribe to the view that Indian cultural identity needs to integrate the principles of multi-culturalism and respect for the dignity of each person? Justify your answer.

   10 marks

3. It is said that the traditional hold of caste-based groups on Indian social behaviour has survived all attempts to build alternate identities. Discuss in the light of M.K. Gandhi.

   10 marks

4. What measures do you suggest to eradicate corruption in Indian democracy?

   10 marks

5. How far can liberty and equality be considered as distinctive features of democracy? Discuss.

   20 marks

6. Critically evaluate Laski's view on sovereignty as a satisfactory position in political theory.

   15 marks

7. Do you subseribe to the political ideology of Anarchists? Justify your answer.

   15 marks

8. What do you understand by multi-culturalism? How are globalization and multi-culturalism related? How does their relationship affect cultural changes?

   20 marks

9. Are Marxian Socialism and individual freedom consistent? Discuss critically.

   15 marks

10. What form of humanism do you approve as relevant in the present day context? Discuss in detail.

    15 marks

11. "Human rights and human dignity would no longer be the product of a particular culture, rather a common human aspiration for an ideal world." Discuss.

    20 marks

12. How do you evaluate gender discrimination in the context of female foeticide?

13. Is feminism an ideology for empowerment or for equality? Discuss.

14. In what sense is the secular use of language different from the religious use of language? Discuss.

15. How far is it plausible to argue that the anti-theistic religions' stand on the concept of rebirth is philosophically significant?

    10 marks

16. Can you justify religion without God? Support your answer.

    10 marks

17. Can one claim that there is an inter-relatedness between 'religiosity'

18. Is Hinduism poly-theistic? Give reasons for your answer.

    10 marks

19. Distinguish between Exclusivism, Inclusiviam and Pluralism with regard to the conflicting truth-claims of different religions.

    20 marks

20. "Truth is one, yet people perceive differently." Critically evaluate by considering the present Indian context.

    15 marks

21. Does the concept of God entail the existence of God? Examine from the perspective of ontological argument.

    15 marks

22. The terms 'Sacred' and 'Holy' have come to serve as generic names for the object of religion. Do you agree that one can have God as the object of religion? Discuss,

    20 marks

23. Evaluate the concept of Bhakti (Devotion) as a pathway to attain liberation.

    15 marks

24. Compare St. Thomas Aquinas' five ways of knowing God with the arguments of the Nyaya School of Indian Philosophy for the existence of God.

25. Critically evaluate the Buddhistic arguments against the existence of God as the creator of the world.

    15 marks

26. Explain the significance of religious symbols as transcendent referent that mediates into the cultural, spatial and temporal world.

    15 marks