Social and Political Philosophy

By Dr. Tejasha Kalita and Dr. Bhaskar Bhattacharyya | Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, Guwahati

Learners enrolled: 598

This course will introduce the subject of Social and Political Philosophy. Social and political philosophy deals with various socio-political issues like origin and development of society, social contract theory, different issues of society, human rights. This course will also deal with some issues like terrorism, globalization, secularism, Marxism etc. All these issues will be discussed in this course in the light of social and political philosophy

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Not Applicable
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Philosophy
Credit Points :	4
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	15 Jul 2025
End Date :	15 Nov 2025
Enrollment Ends :	15 Sep 2025
Exam Date :	13 Dec 2025 IST
Exam Shift :	Shift-II

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week	Modules	Unit
Week-1	Module 1 : Introduction to Society	Unit 1: Origin and Development of society


Week-2	Module 2 : Social Contract Theory	Unit 2 : Social Contract Theory: Hobbes Unit 3 : Social Contract Theory: Locke Unit 4 : Social Contract Theory: Rousseau


Week-3	Module 3 : Social Institutions	Unit 5 : Social Institutions: Family, Education and Religion


Week-4	Module 4 : The Role of Individual in the Society	Unit 6 : Individual and Society


Week-5	Module 5 : Human Rights	Unit 7 : Rights and Duty


Week-6	Module 6 : Challenges to the Society	Unit 8 : Terrorism


Week-7	Module 7 : New Issues of the Society	Unit 9 : Globalization




Week-8	Module 8 : Development of Feminism	Unit 10 : Feminism




Week-9	Module 9 : Modern Theories of the Society	Unit 11 : Marxism : Alienation and Class Struggle Unit 12 : Socialism




Week-10	Module 10 : Secularism	Unit 13 : Secularism: Its Nature, Secularism in India




Week-11	Module 11 : Ideal State	Unit 14 : The Concept of Ideal State




Week-12	Module 12 : Theory of Justice	Unit 15 : John Rawls : Justice as Fairness

Books and references

1. Bhusan, Vidya & D.R Sachdeva (2005) Text Book of Sociology. Kitab Mahal. New Delhi

2. Bhusan, Vidya & D.R Sachdeva. (2012) Fundamentals of Sociology. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.

3. Chakravarty, Sibnath, (1962), An Introduction to Politics: Modern Book Agency Pvt Ltd.

4. Chaturvedi, Archana (2006), Political Theory: Commonwealth Publishers

5. Dasgupta, Samir & Paulomi Saha (2012) An Introduction to Sociology. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.

6. Doshi, S L. (2006). Modernity, Postmodernity and Neo-Sociological Theories. Rawat Publications

7. Francis, M. (2006) Contemporary Sociology. Oxford University Press

8. Perry, John & Erna Perry (2010). Contemporary Society. Dorling Kindersley Indian Pvt. Ltd.

9. M. Francis Abraham. (1982). Modern Sociological Theory. Oxford University Press,

10. Mackenzie, John S. (2004). A Manual of Ethics, Surjeet Publications

11. Rawat, H.K. (2007). Sociology. Rawat Publications

12. Sanyal, Jagadiswar (1994): Guide to Social Philosophy: Sribhumi Publishing House

13. Stumps, Samuel E, (1987), Elements of Philosophy, An Introduction: McGrew Hill Book Company

14. Sinha, J.N. (1984).A Manual of Ethics. New Central Book Agency,

15. Sharma, R.N.(2006).Introduction to Ethics. Surjeet Publications

Instructor bio

Dr. Tejasha Kalita serves as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, located in Guwahati, Assam, India. She achieved her M.A. degree from Gauhati University in Assam, India, in the year 2005. Subsequently, she pursued her Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, also situated in Assam, India, and successfully completed it in 2013. As a Project Associate, she conducted a minor research project on Ethnic Philosophies, funded by the ICPR, at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Dr. Kalita's academic pursuits and research areas primarily encompass Applied Ethics, Social & Political Philosophy, and Contemporary Indian Philosophy. Her dedication to these fields is evident through her substantial contribution of numerous research papers. She has also jointly given a MOOC on Essentials of Indian Philosophy on the SWAYAM platform.

Dr. Bhaskar Bhattacharyya is Senior Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, India. He received his MA and PhD from Gauhati University, India, in 1999 and 2008, respectively, and served as a Junior Research Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research in 2001. His areas of interest are philosophy of language and analytic philosophy, and he has published a number of papers in these fields. He is also the author of the book Analytic Philosophy of Wittgenstein. He has also jointly given a MOOC on Essentials of Indian Philosophy on the SWAYAM platform.

Course certificate

Exam Registration URL: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled, and the certification exam fee needs to be paid.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

30 Marks will be allocated for Internal Assessment (Final Quiz- Mandatory) which will be available at the end of the course and 70 Marks will be allocated for end term proctored examination.

A minimum of 40% passing marks (i.e. at-least 12 marks in Internal Assessment (Final Quiz- Mandatory) & 28 Marks in external proctored examination) will be required for being eligible for SWAYAM Certificate.

SWAYAM Helpline / Support