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100+ Free BCS Written Philosophy Practice Questions

Prepare for the BCS Written Post-Related Philosophy, Subject Code 211, Total Marks 200 exam with instant access — no signup required.

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Key Facts: BCS Written Philosophy Exam

200 marks

Official Philosophy paper size (Subject Code 211)

BPSC BCS written syllabus

100 + 100

Part I and Part II split

BPSC BCS written syllabus

50% aggregate

Written-stage qualifying standard on 900 marks

BPSC BCS examination page

4 hours

Duration used for BPSC 200-mark written papers

Longstanding BPSC sitting practice; confirm current routine

Tk. 200 / Tk. 50

50th BCS general / reduced application fee (no separate written fee)

50th BCS circular reporting citing PSC

Descriptive

Official item type (this bank is an English MCQ study adaptation)

BPSC BCS written syllabus

BPSC Philosophy 211 is a 200-mark, two-part descriptive written paper (4 hours in longstanding BPSC practice) inside the 900-mark BCS written stage. Qualifying standard is 50% aggregate, plus per-paper minima. This page offers English MCQs as a study aid, not an official-paper simulation.

Sample BCS Written Philosophy Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your BCS Written Philosophy exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1What is the primary aim that, on the BPSC Philosophy syllabus, distinguishes philosophy from a special science?
A.To give a coherent account of reality as a whole, including knowledge, value, and existence
B.To measure physical quantities under controlled laboratory conditions
C.To replace religious worship with a single official creed
D.To compile administrative glossaries for civil servants
Explanation: Philosophy seeks a synoptic view of reality: what exists, how we know, and what is valuable. Special sciences isolate a region of fact and explain it with empirical methods. The syllabus therefore opens with nature, scope, methods, and aims, not with laboratory technique.
2Which method is most characteristic of Socratic inquiry as a method of philosophy?
A.Collecting census statistics without examining meanings
B.Issuing unargued prophetic declarations
C.Elenchus: questioning received opinions until hidden contradictions appear
D.Substituting laboratory experiment for conceptual analysis
Explanation: Socratic method proceeds by elenchus: a claim is tested through questions until inconsistency or ignorance is exposed. That dialectical clarification of concepts is a classical method of philosophy, alongside analysis, speculation, and criticism listed under the syllabus heading of methods.
3How is philosophy related to science on the standard account used in this syllabus?
A.Science abolishes every philosophical question
B.Philosophy critically interprets the methods, presuppositions, and limits of the sciences
C.Philosophy and science are identical laboratory practices
D.Science is only a branch of revealed theology
Explanation: The sciences start from assumptions about causation, evidence, and the existence of an external world. Philosophy examines those presuppositions, the meaning of scientific concepts, and the limits of scientific explanation, without duplicating laboratory work.
4Which claim best states the relation of philosophy to commonsense?
A.Commonsense beliefs are infallible and need no criticism
B.Philosophy must reject every commonsense belief as false
C.Philosophy has no overlap with everyday beliefs
D.Philosophy starts from commonsense but criticises, clarifies, and may correct it
Explanation: Commonsense supplies the starting convictions of ordinary life. Philosophy neither canonises those convictions nor dismisses them wholesale; it analyses their meaning and tests their consistency. That is why the syllabus groups religion, science, and commonsense as relations of philosophy.
5Why is logic called a normative science in this syllabus?
A.It lays down standards of valid inference rather than merely describing how people happen to think
B.It measures brain-wave frequencies in the laboratory
C.It issues criminal penalties for fallacies
D.It is a branch of geology
Explanation: A normative science studies norms: how thinking, acting, or judging ought to go. Logic's norm is validity—what follows from what. Psychology describes actual thinking; logic evaluates arguments by a standard independent of frequency.
6What is the decisive difference between a deductive and an inductive argument?
A.Deduction always uses numbers; induction never does
B.In a valid deduction the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises; induction yields only probable support
C.Induction is valid only in mathematics; deduction is valid only in history
D.Deduction is always false; induction is always true
Explanation: Deductive validity is necessity: if the premises are true, the conclusion cannot be false (Aristotle's syllogistic is the classical model). Inductive arguments generalise or project; even good ones leave a gap between evidence and conclusion. The syllabus pairs these as the two natures of argument.
7In Plato's classic treatment, what three marks are required if a belief is to count as knowledge rather than mere opinion?
A.Popularity, recency, and official endorsement
B.Emotion, imagination, and desire
C.Truth, belief, and an account or justification that distinguishes it from lucky opinion
D.Silence, secrecy, and tradition
Explanation: The Theaetetus tradition treats knowledge as true belief plus a logos—an account that ties the belief to its object. Without truth the state is error; without belief there is no cognitive commitment; without justification it is accident. That triad is the standard opening to 'What is knowledge?' on this syllabus.
8Rationalism, as a theory of the sources of knowledge, holds that:
A.Reason can yield genuine knowledge, including some truths not derived from sense experience
B.Only the five senses ever justify a belief
C.Knowledge is identical with social custom
D.All ideas are copies of recent sense impressions and nothing else
Explanation: Rationalists such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz treat reason—and often innate or a priori principles—as a source of knowledge independent of, or not exhausted by, sensation. That is the syllabus contrast with empiricism.
9Empiricism holds that the principal source of knowledge is:
A.Innate ideas present at birth
B.Pure intellectual intuition of essences
C.The categorical imperative
D.Sense experience and what can be derived from it
Explanation: Locke, Berkeley, and Hume take experience—sensation and reflection—as the origin of ideas. Empiricism therefore denies that substantial metaphysical knowledge can be read off innate ideas alone. It is the syllabus counterpart of rationalism.
10Kant's 'Criticism' (critical philosophy) as a theory of knowledge is best stated as:
A.A return to naive realism in which the mind copies things-in-themselves
B.The claim that the mind contributes a priori forms and categories, so we know appearances, not things-in-themselves
C.The claim that all knowledge is mystical union with God
D.The rejection of both sensibility and understanding
Explanation: In the Critique of Pure Reason Kant argues that sensibility supplies space and time as a priori forms and that understanding supplies categories (such as causality). Knowledge is of phenomena structured by those forms, not of noumena. That 'Copernican' synthesis of rationalism and empiricism is the syllabus's Criticism.

About the BCS Written Philosophy Exam

BCS Written Post-Related Philosophy (Subject Code 211) is a 200-mark descriptive paper in the Bangladesh Civil Service written stage, split into Part I and Part II of 100 marks each. It is sat by technical/professional cadre candidates whose post-related subject is Philosophy and by dual-cadre applicants who take the extra 200-mark post-related paper. The official syllabus covers the nature of philosophy, logic and epistemology, reality, evolution, will, mind, immortality, value, truth, religion, named contemporary Western trends, Bangladesh philosophic trends, applied ethics, moral theory, and specified Muslim and Indian philosophers and schools. Official answers are essays and short notes, not multiple choice. This free bank is an English-language MCQ study adaptation of that syllabus—not an official translation, format simulation, or substitute for writing practice.

Assessment

Subject Code 211, total 200 marks. Part I (100 marks): introduction to philosophy; logic and epistemology; theories of reality and evolution; freedom of the will; philosophy of mind; immortality of the soul; value; theories of truth; philosophy of religion; named contemporary Western trends. Part II (100 marks): modern philosophic trends in Bangladesh; practical-life problems; moral standard; right and duty; moral pathology; individual and society; four medieval and two modern Muslim philosophers; Buddhism, Sakhya (Samkhya), Naya (Nyaya), Vedanta, Vivekananda, and Aurobindo Ghosh. Official answers are descriptive. This bank is an English-language MCQ study adaptation, not an official translation or format simulation.

Time Limit

4 hours (duration used for BPSC 200-mark written papers; confirm the current routine)

Passing Score

50% aggregate on the 900-mark written examination (BPSC page); per-paper minima also apply as set by BPSC. Confirm the current circular.

Exam Fee

Tk. 200 general (50th BCS); Tk. 50 for ethnic-minority, persons-with-disabilities, and third-gender applicants; no separate written or viva fee. Confirm the live circular. (Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC))

BCS Written Philosophy Exam Content Outline

about 12% of this bank

Part I — Introduction, Logic, and Epistemology

Nature, scope, methods, and aims of philosophy; usefulness; relations to religion, science, and commonsense; logic as a normative science; deductive and inductive arguments; knowledge; rationalism, empiricism, Kantian criticism, and intuitionism; realism and idealism.

about 15% of this bank

Part I — Reality, Evolution, Will, and Mind

Materialism and idealism; monism, dualism, and pluralism; creation versus evolution; mechanical, teleological, emergent, and creative evolution; cause, determinism, and freedom; mind as spiritual substance, the empirical self, and mind–body theories.

about 17% of this bank

Part I — Immortality, Value, Truth, and Religion

Meanings of immortality, classical proofs, and Kant's ethical proof; fact and value; intrinsic and extrinsic value; truth, beauty, and goodness; correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic theories; pantheism, deism, theism; proofs of God and the problem of evil.

about 6% of this bank

Part I — Contemporary Western Philosophy

Existentialism, logical positivism, pragmatism, neo-idealism, neo-realism, intuitionism, and analytical philosophy only—the seven trends named in the BPSC syllabus.

about 13% of this bank

Part II — Bangladesh Trends and Practical-Life Problems

Materialism, idealism, humanism, and mysticism in Bangladesh; philosophic treatment of suicide, abortion, environmental pollution, terrorism, hoarding, professional corruption, and dealings with lower animals.

about 21% of this bank

Part II — Moral Standard, Right, Duty, and Society

Evolution and nature of moral standard; hedonism, perfectionism, and law (categorical imperative); mutual involvement of right and duty; duties to fellow human beings; wrong-doing and retributive, deterrent, and reformative theories of punishment; egoism, universalism, altruism, justice, and beneficence.

about 8% of this bank

Part II — Muslim Philosophy

Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali, and Ibn Rushd; modern figures Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and Muhammad Iqbal.

about 8% of this bank

Part II — Indian Philosophy

Buddhism, Sakhya (Samkhya), Naya (Nyaya), and Vedanta; Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo Ghosh.

How to Pass the BCS Written Philosophy Exam

What You Need to Know

  • Passing score: 50% aggregate on the 900-mark written examination (BPSC page); per-paper minima also apply as set by BPSC. Confirm the current circular.
  • Assessment: Subject Code 211, total 200 marks. Part I (100 marks): introduction to philosophy; logic and epistemology; theories of reality and evolution; freedom of the will; philosophy of mind; immortality of the soul; value; theories of truth; philosophy of religion; named contemporary Western trends. Part II (100 marks): modern philosophic trends in Bangladesh; practical-life problems; moral standard; right and duty; moral pathology; individual and society; four medieval and two modern Muslim philosophers; Buddhism, Sakhya (Samkhya), Naya (Nyaya), Vedanta, Vivekananda, and Aurobindo Ghosh. Official answers are descriptive. This bank is an English-language MCQ study adaptation, not an official translation or format simulation.
  • Time limit: 4 hours (duration used for BPSC 200-mark written papers; confirm the current routine)
  • Exam fee: Tk. 200 general (50th BCS); Tk. 50 for ethnic-minority, persons-with-disabilities, and third-gender applicants; no separate written or viva fee. Confirm the live circular.

Keys to Passing

  • Work through all 100 available questions
  • Review every answer and explanation
  • Track weak areas and revisit them
  • Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

BCS Written Philosophy Study Tips from Top Performers

1Write definitions first, then one contrast (for example correspondence versus coherence) as you would in a 10–15 mark short note.
2Stay inside the named lists: seven contemporary Western trends; four medieval plus two modern Muslim philosophers; Buddhism, Samkhya, Nyaya, Vedanta, Vivekananda, and Aurobindo.
3For applied Part II items, apply hedonism, perfectionism, or the categorical imperative to the named problem instead of giving only a policy opinion.
4Keep Greek material (Plato, Aristotle) inside the official headings—logic, reality, immortality, value—rather than inventing a separate Greek-school section.
5Use this MCQ bank to lock distinctions, then practise full Bangla/English essays; the official paper is descriptive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BCS Written Post-Related Philosophy?

It is Subject Code 211 in the BPSC BCS written syllabus: a 200-mark post-related paper in two parts of 100 marks each. Technical/professional cadre candidates whose subject is Philosophy, and dual-cadre applicants who sit the extra post-related paper, take it as part of the 900-mark written stage.

Is the official Philosophy paper multiple choice?

No. The official BPSC paper is descriptive (essays and short notes). This bank is a free English-language MCQ study adaptation of the published syllabus, not an official translation, format simulation, or substitute for writing practice.

How is the 200 marks split?

The official syllabus splits the paper evenly: Part I 100 marks and Part II 100 marks. Part I covers introduction through contemporary Western philosophy. Part II covers Bangladesh trends, applied ethics, moral theory, Muslim philosophy, and Indian philosophy.

What is the written pass standard?

The BPSC examination page requires 50% aggregate on the 900-mark written examination. Per-paper minimum qualifying standards also apply as set by BPSC. Confirm the circular for your cycle.

How long is the paper?

Four hours is the duration used for BPSC 200-mark written papers on this site and in longstanding sitting practice. Always confirm the timetable on the current BPSC routine.

Which Indian and Muslim names does the syllabus actually list?

Muslim philosophy: Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, and Muhammad Iqbal. Indian philosophy: Buddhism, Sakhya (Samkhya), Naya (Nyaya), Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda, and Aurobindo Ghosh. Do not treat unlisted schools as syllabus headings.

What is the application fee?

For the 50th BCS, published reporting citing PSC lists Tk. 200 for general candidates and Tk. 50 for ethnic-minority, persons-with-disabilities, and third-gender applicants. There is no separate written or viva fee. Confirm the live circular and Teletalk instructions.

What happens after the written exam?

Candidates who meet written qualifying standards are called to viva voce. The official BPSC page still lists viva at 200 marks with a 50% pass; news reports from the 47th BCS onward have described a 100-mark viva. Confirm the current circular.