Philosophy Books for UPSC are very important to aspirants who have opted for this subject in the UPSC IAS Mains examination. Among several Humanities subjects, Philosophy has been one of the most popular and scoring optional subjects in the UPSC IAS examination. Candidates usually prepare Philosophy optional for UPSC in Paper VII and Paper VIII of the Mains exam. The major plus point of choosing this subject is that a large part of the UPSC Philosophy optional syllabus is easy to cover and mostly overlaps with Essay and General Studies papers. Thus, to make your preparation easier further, we have arranged the best books for Philosophy optional in UPSC for both Paper 1 and 2.

Before checking out all the Philosophy Books for UPSC exam, you must go through the UPSC Philosophy optional syllabus for both papers which accounts for a total of 500 marks. One of the major reasons why candidates choose Philosophy as an optional is because of its static syllabus where candidates don’t need to read external Current Affairs or use any calculations or shortcuts to answer questions. As per the official UPSC Exam Pattern for optional subjects, candidates will have to attempt 5 out of 8 questions from each Philosophy paper in Mains. In this article, we have categorized the UPSC Philosophy Optional Books for both papers and their topics for ultimate exam preparation.

You can also check out our Philosophy Optional Coaching program for UPSC IAS Exam!

Importance Of UPSC Philosophy Books

Philosophy is one of those UPSC Optional subjects that requires extensive and selective reading. It is purely conceptual, with no practical application. Thus, before going through any Philosophy books for UPSC, you must be clearly acquainted with the official UPSC Syllabus for Mains along with its sub-parts.

The UPSC Philosophy optional paper-I comprises questions related to Indian and Western philosophy concepts such as Empiricism, Existentialism, Vedanta, and schools of Jainism & Buddhism, etc. On the other hand, Paper II shares Indian and Western themes of common interest on Socio-political and Religious philosophical concepts. To cover such inter-changing topics, we have provided you with the Best Philosophy books for UPSC Optional papers 1 and 2.

List of Best Philosophy Books for UPSC Optional

Before starting your preparation with the best books for Philosophy optional UPSC, you must understand the scope and paper-wise topics. The commission has divided the UPSC Optional Philosophy Syllabus into two parts based on Indian, Western, Socio-political and Religious schools of thought. Reading these UPSC Philosophy optional books will not only help you score the most out of 250 marks in each paper but also achieve optimum marks in GS papers.

Now, let’s go through the Philosophy optional booklist for UPSC IAS Mains in terms of Paper 1 and 2 below.

UPSC Philosophy Optional Books (Paper-I)

In paper 1, candidates will have to attempt 5 out of 8 questions from Indian and Western philosophical concepts. Along with it, they must answer two compulsory questions from both these parts. Let’s check out all the UPSC Books for Philosophy optional Paper-I below.

Go through the official UPSC Prelims Syllabus to know the Philosophy topics overlapping in GS papers.

UPSC Philosophy Optional Books (Paper-II)

As for UPSC Philosophy optional Paper 1, candidates will also have to attempt 5 questions here and 2 mandatory questions from Social-Political Philosophy and Religious Philosophy topics. This booklist is strictly prepared as per the UPSC Mains Syllabus for optional. Let’s check out all the Philosophy Books for UPSC optional paper 2.

Check UPSC Cut Off Marks for UPSC Optional and Mains papers here!

Other Recommended Philosophy Books For UPSC

We have earlier covered all the relevant Western and Indian Philosophy books for UPSC. However, aspirants can look for other options given their choice of books or preparation strategy. Let’s check out some more UPSC Philosophy optional books below.

Also, go through the UPSC Mains Strategy for Philosophy optional in detail here!

UPSC Philosophy Booklist PDF

The UPSC Philosophy Books PDF consist the complete list of books that are mentioned in the above section. Candidates can save this PDF for their reference and decide which book to buy for their exam preparation. Click on the below attached link to download the Philosophy booklist for UPSC.

• UPSC Philosophy Booklist – Download PDF

Tips to Prepare with Philosophy Books For UPSC Optional

As mentioned above, the UPSC Philosophy optional syllabus is divided into four sub-parts i.e., Western Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Social-Political Philosophy, and Religious Philosophy. Let’s look at the specific preparation strategy for UPSC Philosophy papers below.

• Paper-I Preparation: To answer 5 out of 8 questions in UPSC Philosophy optional Paper-I topics, you will have to study the fundamentals of Indian & Western Philosophy schools and thinkers. Follow the reference materials given above for each topic and read Satishchandra Chatterjee’s book for Indian Philosophy and Anthony Kenny’s Western Philosophy in 4 parts.
• Paper-II Preparation: In Paper-II questions will be asked on topics related to Social-political philosophy and Religious Philosophy. Read Hindu editorials as well as popular UPSC magazines like Kurukshetra and Yojana to master this paper.
• Answer-Writing Practice from Books: Take down answer-writing notes for each topic while preparing for UPSC Philosophy optional syllabus. Evaluate your answer-writing notes from experienced mentors and coaching teachers to assess your preparation levels.
• Refer to books with solved papers and answer scripts: After going through topic-wise Philosophy books for UPSC, also refer to certain texts that have answer writing scripts of toppers and solved questions to help you understand the type of skill you require.
• Use of flowcharts and diagrams: As the UPSC Philosophy optional syllabus can be comprehensive for both papers, make use of concise notes, diagrams, and flowcharts to revise each topic concisely.
• Stick to Limited Books: You must stick to one or a maximum of two books for Philosophy optional UPSC preparation for each topic based on your strong and weak areas in that particular topic.

Also, attempt UPSC Philosophy Previous Year Papers to step up your preparation to the next level.

We hope that this article on the best Philosophy books for UPSC could help you advance your optional paper preparation quite easily. For more such UPSC subject-oriented study resources and materials, join our Philosophy Optional Coaching or download the Testbook App to crack this competitive exam across the country in the first attempt.