The Department of Philosophy started in the year 1924. Pachaiyappa in his will gave a prime place to Philosophy and Sanskrit. The Department has many popular Professors and Heads. Prof. A.G.Cooper (1891-1897) and Prof. Eric Brew (1897- 1935) served as professors of Philosophy. Prof.P.N.Srinivasacharry, Department of Philosophy became the Principal of the college in the year 1935. Between 1938 and 1941, Prof.D.S.Sarma, Headed the department of Philosophy, also the Principal who played a vital role in bringing the college to its present place at Chetpet from Georgetown. Dr.T.M.P.Mahadevan a legendary figure in philosophy succeeded Dr.D.S.Sarma as Head of the Department of Philosophy in the year 1935. Later Prof.P.C.Munusamy became the Head of the Department of Philosophy and served the department till 1972.
Dr.M.Muthuraman took charge of the Department in the year 1972 and the department was recognized as the research department introducing M.Phil and Ph.D programmes. Dr.Muthuraman was promoted as principal and transferred to Pachaiyappa's college, Kanchipuram in the year 1985. Notable among those who served the department during that time were Prof.P.N.Shanmugasundaram, Dr.P.Chinnaswami, Dr A.S Pillai, and Prof.Jayamuniasamy who were very popular among the students. Prof. Jayamuniasamy (1966-1996) became the Head of the Department in the year 1985.
Dr.K.L.Madhavan (1975-2008) became the Head of the Department after Prof. Jayamuniasamy. Under his guidance 5 Ph.D scholars and 10 M.Phil students successfully completed their course and got their degrees. Dr.V.Siddhartha (Periyar Dhasan) (1975-2008) served the department and he was popular among the students and the general public by his oratorical skill in Tamil. He also acted in many Tamil movies.
Dr.M.Parthiban (1978-2011) served as an Associate Professor in the department and also as the warden of the college hostel. He became the Head of the Department during 2008 and later promoted as the principal and transferred to Pachaiyappa's college Kanchipuram in the year 2011.
Dr.K.Sampathkumar (1978-2014) took charge of the department as HOD in the year 2011 and served well in other capacities also as warden of the college hostel. He also organized National and Regional conferences on the themes of environment and Vivekananada's philosophy.
Dr.Vasugi became the Head of the Department in the year 2014 subsequently, Dr.V.Seenivasan took charge of the department as Head in the year 2016.He organized an International Conference on the 12th September 2016 in commemoration with the 175th year of Pachaiyappa's College and 200th year of Tamil Education in
Malaysia.
A Special program on Nationalism and Student Empowerment (Thursday, 23rd February 2017) was presided by Mr. S. Jayachandran, Chairman, Pachaiyappa's Trust Board. The Guest of Honour for the program were Mr. Tarun Vijay, Ex. M.P., and Mr. Muruganandam, Vice President Athletic National and National Coordinator, Make in India.
Regional seminar on Yoga, Philosophy and practice was organized by the department to commemorate the 175th Anniversary of Pachaiyappa's college. About 500 students participated in the seminar the programme coordinator Dr A.D Revathy Asst.Professor and other members Dr VM Makhalakshmi Asst Professor, Deputy Head of the department,Mr. P.Sathiyamoorthy Asst. Professor, Dr.B. Devan Asst. Professor, Dr. Jeris Emmanuel Asst.
Professor, Mr.Muthaiyan (Guest Lecturer, Dr.M.Rajesh (Guest Lecturer) of the department supported the academic programme.
