The PVP is an autonomous Institute having the right to confer academic degrees, by the authority of the Holy See, in various subjects which have canonical validity. Its functioning is ordered in accordance with the norms of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (cc. 646-650), the directives laid down in Veritatis Gaudium and the Norms and Application of the same Apostolic Constitution, and taking into account the varying local conditions and university system in the region. The Institute functions to confer the Baccalaureate in Philosophy (First Cycle) without being affiliated to any Faculty (Circular letter Prot. N. 819/2019; 912/2020, sent to the Chancellor of PVP on 30 March 2021; 12 December 2022). In academic matters, the directives of the Dicastery for Culture and Education issued from time to time will be followed.
The purposes of the Institute are:
- To promote and cultivate through scientific research, the patrimony of Christian wisdom both East and West with special emphasis on Aristotelean-Thomistic traditions as well as Asian cultural resources;
- To train the students of the First Cycle to a solid and coherent synthesis of doctrine, examine and judge the different systems of Philosophy, and to a personal philosophical reflection (VG Norms of Application, article 64 § 2).
- To empower the students in philosophical matterss, to investigate the philosophical problems according to scientific methodology, basing itself on a heritage of permanently valid Philosophy (VG article 81 § 1);
- To foster inter-religious dialogue, particularly with the religions of India, by promoting the Christian culture (VG article 81 § 1).
The Congregation for Catholic Education (at present the Dicastery for Culture and Education), through the decree Perinsigne Fidei Christianae erected Paurastya Vidyapitham (PVP) as an autonomous Faculty of Theology at St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor on 3 July 1982. From the inception of the Seminary in 1962, the curriculum included a three-year programme of philosophical studies. The higher academic authority of PVP from 1982 made requests to the Congregation for Catholic Education to grant the PVP the faculty to award canonical degree of Baccalaureate in Philosophy (B. Ph) to students who successfully complete the three-year programme of Philosophy in the Seminary. The Congregation, having studied the programme of studies and the qualifications of the teachers, approved the three-year Philosophy course in the Seminary and granted PVP the power to confer the degree of ‘Baccalaureate in Philosophy’ (the Decree dated 15 August 1985, Prot. N. 679/75/49c). In a letter addressed to the Chancellor of PVP, the Prefect of the Congregation proposed to include the necessary details of this philosophical programme in the revised Statutes of the PVP (Port. N. 679/75). Accordingly, in 1994 and 2010, when PVP revised its Statutes, the details of the Philosophy course were included. In the Statutes approved by the Congregation in 2010, it is stated: “Until a Faculty of Philosophy is instituted, the existing Department of Philosophy will continue as a separate department under the Faculty of Theology” (article XII, 4.c). As per article XLV of this Statutes of PVP the degree of the Baccalaureate in Philosophy can be conferred to successful candidates on completion of the First Stage of the First Cycle of the Institutional Course. The Congregation for Catholic Education has granted the three-year curriculum of studies as the ordinary undergraduate pathway leading to the Baccalaureate in Philosophy on 25 June 2013. The approval for a two-year Philosophy programme was granted to the students, who have graduate or post-graduate degrees from state recognized universities, based on the accreditation of the language subjects that are fulfilled during minor seminary studies (Prot.N.198/2012). Since the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis gaudium does not provide provisions for a stand-alone Cycle I Programme in Philosophy within a Faculty of Theology, the Dicastery for Culture and Education considered the possibility of erecting an Autonomous Institute of Philosophy at PVP granting only the First Cycle degree, without being affiliated to a Faculty (Prot. N. 819/2019; 912/2020). Hence the Autonomous Institute of Cycle I of Philosophy was erected on 12 December 2022 by the Dicastery for Culture and Education (Prot. N. 912/2020) and was inaugurated on 7 February 2023.