GATE Philosophy Syllabus 2026 - IIT Guwahati has released the GATE 2026 Philosophy syllabus. Candidates can check the GATE Philosophy syllabus in the brochure on the official website, gate2026.iitg.ac.in. The GATE syllabus comprises important topics that will be tested in the exam. GATE Philosophy (C4) is a part of the Humanities and Social Sciences paper. The Philosophy syllabus is divided into four chapters. The GATE questions paper is based on the exam syllabus. IIT Guwahati will conduct the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering. The GATE 2026 exam will be conducted as a computer-based test, on February 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2026. The GATE Biochemistry exam will be held on February 15, 2026.
The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) has issued the examination schedule for the GATE 2026 today.
| Date of examination | Timings for dual shifts | Paper code |
| February 7, 2026 | 9:30 am to 12:30 noon 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm |
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| February 8, 2026 | 9:30 am to 12:30 noon 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm |
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| February 14, 2026 | 9:30 am to 12:30 noon 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm |
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| February 15, 2026 | 9:30 am to 12:30 noon 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm |
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Along with the syllabus, candidates must check the GATE 2026 exam pattern. The exam pattern of GATE Philosophy is updated on this page. Knowledge of the GATE Philosophy syllabus will help in planning for the exam effectively.
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati has uploaded the GATE Philosophy syllabus 2026 PDF on its official website, gate2026.iitg.ac.in. The Philosophy paper (XH-C4) will have two compulsory sections- General Aptitude & the Reasoning and Comprehension section. Candidates must prepare all the topics mentioned in the GATE Philosophy syllabus 2026. The topic-wise GATE Philosophy syllabus based on the notification is provided below.
Chapters | Topics |
|---|---|
Classical Indian Philosophy | Orthodox Systems: Sānkhya- Puruṣa, Prakṛti, Guṇas, Satkāryavāda, Mokṣa (Kaivalya), Pramāṇas and Theory of Error, Yoga – Pramāṇas, Theory of Error, Iśvara, Citta, Kleśa, Aṣṭāngayoga, Kaivalya (Mokṣa), Nyāya – Pramāṇas, Hetvābhāsa, Iśvara, Asatkāryavāda, Theory of Error, Navya-Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika – Parataḥprāmāṇya, Padārthas (categories), Theory of Atomism (paramāṇuvāda), Mīmāmsā– Dharma, Apūrva, Mokṣa, Pramāṇas (both in Kumārila and Prabhākara), Anyathākhyāti, and, Vedānta– Advaita (Adhyāsa, Brahman, Iśvara, Ātman, Jīva, Mokṣa, Viśiṣṭādvaita (Tattva-traya, Mokṣa, and Refutation of Māyāvāda), Dvaita, Dvaitādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Pramāṇa in Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita |
Heterodox Systems: Cārvāka – Pramāṇa, Indian marerislism and Hedonism, JainismPramāṇas, Syādvāda, Anekāntavāda, Padārtha (categories), Jīva and Ajīva, Mokṣa, Mahāvrata, Aṇuvrata, and, Buddhism – Ti-piṭaka, Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, Mādhyamika, YogācāraVijñānavāda, Pañca-skandha, Anityavāda, Anātmavāda, Doctrine of Momentariness, Doctrine of Dependent Origination, Pramānas, Doctrine of Two Truths, Doctrine of Tri-kāya, Ṣaḍ-pāramitās, Brahmavihāras, Pāñcaśīla, and Bodhisattva Ideal, and Upāyakauśalya | |
Upaniṣads, Bhagavadgītā, and Dharmaśāstras: Philosophy of the Upaniṣads – Pure Monism, Brahmam and Ātman, Pañca-kośa, Parā-vidyā and Aparā-vidyā, Meaning of Dharma, Ṛta, Purusārtha, Śreyas and Preyas, Varṇāśrama-dharma, Dharma- Svadharma and Sādhāraṇa Dharma, Ṛna, Yajña, Karma-yoga, Sthitaprajña, Lokasaṃgraha, and Law of Karma. | |
KāṣmiraŚaivism, Śaivasiddhānta, VīraŚaivism, Śāktism and Vaiṣṇavism: KāṣmīraŚaivism – Pratyābhijña school, Śiva and Śakti, and Conception of Kriyā, Śaivasiddhānta – God (pati) and Divine Power (śakti), Proofs for God’s Existence, Bondage and Liberation, VīraŚaivism – Philosophical basis of VīraŚaivism, Śāktism - Philosophical basis of Śāktism, and Vaiṣṇavism – Philosophical basis of Vaiṣṇavism. | |
Contemporary Indian Philosophy | Vivekananda: Notion of God, Freedom and Karma, Nature of Soul/self, Practical Vedanta, and Universal Religion. Aurobindo: World Process – Involution and Evolution, Four Theories of Existence, The Supermind, Integral Yoga, and Gnostic Being. Iqbal: Nature of Intuition, Nature of Self, and Notion of God. Tagore: Humanism and Nature of Man, Notion of Religion, and Nationalism. K. C. Bhattacharyya: Concept of Absolute and Its Alternative Forms, and Notion Subjectivity and Freedom. Radhakrishnan: Nature of Ultimate Reality, Religious Experience, Intellect and Intuition, Hindu View of Life. J. Krishnamurti: Notion of Freedom, Choiceless Awareness, Truth is a Pathless Land, and Notion of Education. Gandhi: Notion of Truth, Nonviolence, Satyagraha, Swaraj, and Trusteeship. Ambedkar: Annihilation of Caste, Neo-Buddhism, Democracy, and Natural Rights and Law. M. N. Roy: Radical Humanism and Materialism. |
Classical and Modern Western Philosophy | Metaphysics: Pre-Socratic Philosophy of Thales, Anaxagoras, Anaximenies, Ionians, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Democritus. Metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle: The question of Being (to on/ousia): Being as Idea in Plato's Phaedo, Republic and the Sophist, Being as synthesis of hyle [matter] and morphe [form] in Aristotle's Metaphysics and Physics. Problem of evil and existence of God in St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Thomas Aquinas Metaphysics in Modern Philosophy: Substance, Mind-Body Dualism, Attribute, Parallelism, Pre-established harmony, the existence of God, Problem of Solipsism, Self and Personal Identity, Rejection of Metaphysics, Phenomena and Noumena, Transcendental Deduction of Categories, Being and Becoming, Absolute Idealism |
Epistemology: Plato and Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge, Doxa, Episteme, and Sophia, Method of Dialectics, Theoretical and Practical Reason, Theory of Causation, Descarte’s Method of Doubt, cogito ergo sum, Innate Ideas and its refutation, Principle of Non-contradiction, Sufficient Reason, and Identity of Indiscernible, Locke’s Three Grades of Knowledge, Berkeley’s Critique of Abstract Ideas, Hume’s Impressions and Ideas, Induction and Causality, Kant’s Copernican Revolution, Forms of Sensibility, Possibility of Synthetic a priori Judgments. Hegel’s Dialectics, Spirit, and Absolute Idealism. | |
Ethics: Concepts of Good, Right, Justice, Duty, Obligation, Cardinal Virtues, Eudaemonism; Intuition as explained in Teleological and Deontological Theories; Egoism, Altruism, Universalism, Subjectivism, Cultural Relativism, Super-naturalism, Ethical realism and Intuitionism, Kant’s moral theory, Postulates of Morality, Good-will, Categorical Imperative, Duty, Means and ends, Maxims; Utilitarianism: Principle of Utility, Problem of Sanction and Justification of Morality, Moral theories of Bentham, J. S. Mill, Sidgwick; Theories of Punishment; Ethical Cognitivism and Non-cognitivism, Emotivism, Prescriptivism, Descriptivism. | |
Social and Political Philosophy: Plato’s theory of Justice and State, Aristotle’s definition of State and Political Naturalism; Classical Liberalism and Social Contract Theory (Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke); Marx’s Dialectical Materialism, Alienation, and critique of Capitalism | |
Logic: Truth and Validity, Nature of Propositions, Categorical Syllogism, Laws of Thought Classification of Propositions Square of Opposition, Truth-Functions and Propositional Logic, Quantification and Rules of Quantification; Symbolic Logic: Use of symbols; Truth Table for testing the validity of arguments; Differences between Deductive and Inductive Logic, Causality and Mill’s Method. | |
Contemporary Western Philosophy | Frege’s Sense and Reference; Logical Positivism’s Verification theory of meaning, Elimination of Metaphysics; Moore’s Distinction between Sense and Reference, Defense of common-sense, Proof of an External World; Russell’s Logical Atomism, Definite Descriptions, Refutation of Idealism; Wittgenstein on Language and Reality, the Picture Theory, critique of private language, Meaning and Use, Forms of life; Gilbert Ryle on Systematically Misleading Expressions, critique of Cartesian dualism; W.V.O. Quine’s Two Dogmas of Empiricism; P.F. Strawson’s concept of Person; Husserl’s Phenomenological Method, Philosophy as a rigorous science, Intentionality, Phenomenological Reduction, Inter-subjectivity; Heidegger’s concept of Being (Dasein), Being in the world; Sartre’s Concept of Freedom, Bad-faith, Humanism; MerleauPonty on Perception, Embodied Consciousness; William James’s Pragmatic Theories of Meaning and Truth, Varieties of Religious experience; John Dewey on Pragmatist Epistemology with focus on Inquiry, fallibilism and Experience, Education; Nietzsche on the Critique of Enlightenment, Will to Power, Genealogy of Moral; Richard Rorty’s Critique of Representationalism, Against Epistemological method, Edifying Philosophy, Levinas: Ethics as a first philosophy, Philosophy of ‘other’; Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance, Principle of Justice; Nozick’s critique of Rawls, Libertarianism: Charles Taylor’s Communitarianism, critique of the Liberal Self, Politics of recognition; Martha Nussbaum’s Liberal Feminism and Capability Approach; Simone de Beauvoir on Situated Freedom and Ethics of Ambiguity; Code and Harding on Situated Knowledge and Strong and Weak Objectivity; Gilligan and Noddings on Ethics of Care, Debate between Care and Justice. |
The authority has released the GATE Philosophy exam pattern 2026 on the official website, gate2026.iitg.ac.in. Candidates can check the exam pattern of GATE for Philosophy below.
Particulars | Details |
|---|---|
Examination Mode | Computer Based Test (Online) |
Duration | 3 Hours |
Section |
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Type of Questions |
|
Total Marks | 100 Marks |
Marking Scheme | All of the questions will be worth 1 or 2 marks |
GATE Negative Marking |
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Candidates can check the section-wise GATE 2026 philosophy marking scheme below. The marking scheme helps candidates know the weightage of various sections in the GATE philosophy exam. The following table will be updated with the GATE 2026 marking scheme for philosophy once released.
Subject | Marks Allotted |
|---|---|
General Aptitude (GA) | 15 |
Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1) | 25 |
Economics (XH-C4) | 60 |
Total | 100 |
Candidates preparing for the upcoming GATE 2026 exam can check the GATE preparation tips. The preparation tips will help candidates prepare for the exam strategically.
Also check:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Candidates can download the GATE 2026 Philosophy syllabus PDF from the official website.
To prepare for the GATE Philosophy exam 2026, candidates must refer to the GATE philosophy syllabus and exam pattern. Aspirants must take multiple GATE mock tests and practice the previous year papers to strengthen their concepts.
According to the GATE philosophy exam pattern, the core subject will be held for 60 marks. While the compulsory reading comprehension section and the General aptitude section will be held for 25 and 15 marks respectively. The maximum marks is 100 marks while each question is of 1 or 2 marks. The detailed exam pattern is available in the article above.
The weightage for the GATE philosophy syllabus is 60%. The compulsory section- reading comprehension holds a 25% weightage while the general aptitude section has a weighatge of 15%.
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
The link to the question paper is attached here. You can access the question papers along with the answer key on the careers360 website. Careers360 also provides students with preparation tips that will help them in preparing and the mock test and analyse their in-depth performance.
https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/last-15-years-gate-papers-solutions
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Hello,
Here is a link for the sample papers for GATE Exam with DA subjects. Tap on the link given below to open it:
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Hello aspirant,
If you missed the correction window for GATE 2026, the portal will not allow changes right now. Usually, IIT opens a correction period only once. Since you need to change your surname, the best option is to contact the GATE organizing institute through their official support email or
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