Philosophy – Contact

Department Head

Departmental Manager

Manasi Thaken is the Departmental Manager of Philosophy and History. She assists the Philosophy Department with the organization of seminars, workshops, and conferences. She facilitates organizing important meetings of the department; keeps track of the budget expenditure of the department and ensuries that the budget is utilized. She also helps the department in preparing the yearly report of the department which includes an overall review with key highlights and serves as the liaison between the Philosophy Department and administrative departments such as the Office of Academic Affairs.

Manasi has completed an Economic Hons from Delhi University and joined Ashoka for a Young India Fellowship.

PPE Coordinator

The Philosophy PPE coordinator interfaces with the other PPE coordinators and is the department’s dedicated contact with respect to all issues and questions concerning the PPE Major.

Website Issues

The website is curated and kept up to date by Professor Raja (below). Contact him in case you find typos or other, more serious mistakes.

TF and TA Applications

Those with a four-year undergraduate degree in philosophy (including our graduates) or, preferably, a master’s, who live in the Delhi area, and who are interested in acting as a Teaching Fellow for a course in philosophy may apply by sending, to philosophy.tf.app@ashoka.edu.in, 

1. a current CV,
2. a philosophical writing sample,
3. a reference letter from a professor who can speak to the applicant’s promise and/or experience as a teacher of philosophy, and
4. sample teaching evaluations (if available). 

The deadline for application materials for courses offered in the Monsoon semester is June 1. That for courses offered in the Spring semester is November 1. We expect to be able to notify applicants about the outcome of their applications by July 31 for Monsoon and December 30 for Spring.

Teaching fellowships depend on enrollment and are not always available. Applicants will be contacted about any openings for which they are being considered.

Philosophy students in their third or fourth year (rising third years at the earliest, e.g. for the summer semester) can apply to help a faculty member as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for Philosophy courses. Typically, TAs earn 2 credits (4 credits only if there is a particularly high workload as, e.g., in Logic) that count towards their Philosophy degree requirements. Maximally 4 credits can be earned that way towards the UG degree. Interested students may apply by sending, to philosophy.ta.app@ashoka.edu.in,

• an indication regarding what course they would like to be a TA for
• an overview of the PHI courses they have taken
• a statement of why they think that serving as a TA would benefit them and/or why they think that they are well-poised to be of assistance in this particular course.

In 2021, TA applications will be processed on a rolling basis, beginning in 2022, they will follow the application deadlines for TF applications mentioned above. Note that students must get a NOC to be allowed to serve as TAs – so please ensure that you request a NOC from the registrar.