History of the Department of Philosophy originates from 1949. This year the Department separated from the University's Department of fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, which existed at the University since its foundation in January, 1934. In the period between 1949-1961 the Department of Marxist-Leninist Philosophy faculty (later on - Philosophy and Economics faculty) was headed by I.E. Dardykin. In the period between 1961-1971 it was headed by a prominent Kazakh scientist, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Z.T. Tulenov. This period in the history of development of Philosophy education and development of the Department of Philosophy was notable for new foundations of scientific and methodical work, as well as new foundations of Kazakh school of Philosophy as an independent scientific direction.

Philosopher Zhandar Tulenov wrote in his memoirs:

“Before I was elected, N.P. Dardykin (one of the greatest philosophers of the Republic, with a large experience of pedagogical work) was head of the Department. Our Department worked with all departments of the University, so the Department team was considerably big. Sometimes the number of teachers and post-graduates reached 50 people. It was not very easy to manage this team; you had to look closely to every person and take into account the interests of the members of the Department. Nevertheless,perseverance wins, and we managed to create a cohesive team capable of solving complicated tasks. All the University Departments, as you know, are designed to render methodical assistance to the peer departments of other universities. So the Philosophy Department has gradually gained the recognition of their peers and society.”

Head of the Department of Philosophy

1961 – 1971),
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Z.Т.Tulenov

Since 1971, independent and autonomous history of the philosophy Department begins. Under direction of Professor N.S Sarsenbayev new basis for methodology of the social sciences was formed. The first laboratory of sociological research (that contributed to the establishment and development of professional sociological education in our country) was created on the initiative of the N.S. Sarsenbayev, with great support of a well-known Kazakh philosopher, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor M.M. Suzhikov.

Head of the Department of Philosophy
(1971-1984),Doctor of Philosophy,

Professor N.S. Sarsenbayev

Scientific, educational, methodological and pedagogical activities of the veterans of the great Patriotic war (Docent S.M. Rakhimbayeva (1924-2001) and Docent A.S. Surapbergenova (1920-1987)) become the basis of research traditions of the Department. 1953-1954 graduates of the philosophy Department – Docent A.D. Azhibaeva and senior lecturer I.S. Khoroshilova, well known pedagogues and scientists – Professor R.B. Absattarova, Professor T.H. Gabitov, Docent V.I. Vorotnitsky also contributed to formation of methodological basis in philosophy.

In the late 70-s young generation of pedagogues and scientists joined the Department of Philosophy:

Z. A. Altaev – Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, head of the regional centre “History and Philosophy of Science” and “al-Farabi Centre”;

S.A. Ospanov – Docent, Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Kazakh University of Technology, author of a large number of papers on theoretical and applied sociology, sociology of law, etc.;

N.Z. Baytenova – Doctor of Philosophy, Professor;

I.M. Kurmanbaeve – Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at the Uppsala University (Switzerland);

S.K. Myrzaly – Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, head of the Department of philosophy at M. Tynyshpaev Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communication;

A.A. Shvydko – Candidate of Philosophy, Docent;

N.A. Askarov – Candidate of Philosophy, Docent;

Futher history of the development of scientific and pedagogical priorities of the Department can be divided into the following periods:

1971 - mid 80's – a period of intense exploration and development of post-classical Marxism, approbation of such disciplines as Social Psychology, General and Applied Sociology, Cultural Theory, etc.

1985 - beginning of 90's – a period of rapid change in system and content of teaching; creation of new educational and methodical systems; active study of social dynamics, theories of personality; introduction of fundamental courses in methodology of social cognition, etc.

1991-2000 – radical revision of educational policies and programs; rapid increase in the number of new fundamental courses, special courses and seminars. E. g., Anthropology, Philosophy of history, Philosophy of law, Philosophy of education, Philosophy and methodology of social Sciences, theory of inter-ethnic relations, etc.

2000-2014 – further substantive and structural transformation of educational process, introduction of credit technology and innovative methods; formation of new educational models, aimed at the implementation and further development of "knowledge economy".

Under the guidance of Professor A.H. Turgumbaev (1984-1987) new scientific traditions at the Department of Philosophy began to evolve. As the matter of fact – the second half of the 80's was the “perestroika” period of the educational process, the transition to the new educational and methodical systems.

In the period between 1987-1992 the Department of Philosophy was headed by Oraz Amangalievich Segyzbayev - Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, a renowned expert in the field of history of Kazakh and Western philosophy. He wrote a number of articles on history of Kazakh social philosophy, monographic studies on tradition of freethinking and atheism in spiritual culture of Kazakh people, etc.

In the period between 1993-2000, the Department team, headed by A.H. Kasymzhanov, has done a great importance of work associated with deep rethinking and reforming the entire arsenal of educational and methodical systems of disciplines.

In 2004, the process of substantial transformation of philosophical education continued with the introduction of credit system of education. The Department has been recognised as the country's centre of scientific and methodical work on a new standards of philosophical education.

In 2004, 2006 and also in 2009 the team of the Department developed and updated new standards of higher professional education (050201 - Philosophy (BA) and 6N0201 - Philosophy (MA).

Updated standards of philosophical education included new disciplines, such as "Socio-philosophical Comparative Studies", "Social Anthropology", "Social epistemology", "Anthropological discourse of the Kazakh philosophy", "History and Philosophy of science", "Philosophy of education", "Actual problems of contemporary philosophy", etc.

The Department team under the leadership of A.H. Kasymzhanov has released several books. For example, "The Kazakh" (1994), "Portraits: the Strokes to the history of the Steppe" (1995, 1997) in Russian and Kazakh languages; "Portraits. Steppe viewed from the outside: from Herodotus to Humboldt" (2001) were published.

In 1996-1997 Professor A.H. Kasymzhanov won Fulbright Fund grant and worked at Oklahoma state University, where he delivered a course of lectures on Central Asia history and culture. On the basis of his research a unique book "Stele of Kosho-Sidama" (1998) was published, which immediately became a bibliographic rarity.

Head of the Department of Philosophy (1993 – 2000),

Doctor of Philosophy, Professor
А.H. Kasymzhanov

Since November 2000 the Department was headed by Professor M.S. Hasanov, whose organizational activities and personal example laid the foundations of another innovative and productive period. The new Head of Department was able to maintain continuity in the current work and further qualitative development of the team.

Since 2001, socio-political magazine "Eurasia" is published (the project author and editor is Professor M.S. Hasanov). In a relatively short period, the journal become an open forum for contemporary philosophical, cultural, political, social thought in Kazakhstan.

In the period between 2003 and 2013, the Department was headed by Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Z.A. Altaev, one of the leading experts in the field of Kazakh national history and philosophy.

From September 2013, the Department of Philosophy is headed by Nurysheva Gulzhikhan Zhumabaevna, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor. She was a student of O.A. Segyzbaev, the prominent researcher of Kazakh philosophy.

She is the author of the textbooks and teaching aids (including the textbooks under the signature of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan) in the national language, and the autohr of more than 100 scientific articles published in Kazakhstan, Russia, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Turkey. For many years chaired the Department of Philosophy of the Kazakh-British Technical University.

Nowadays, the main directions of the Department teamwork are improvement of teaching quality, international relations expansion, promotion of scientific and innovative activities of the Department, active participation in the implementation of "Al-Farabi university smart-city” project, etc.

Head of the Department of Philosophy, 
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor 

G.Z. Nurysheva

At the present moment the Department of Philosophy has a very talented teaching and research team:

Doctors of Philosophy – Nurysheva G.Z., Altaev Z.A., Hasanov M.S., Nurzhanov B.G., Karabaeva A.G., Syrgakbaeva A.S., Edilbaeva S.Z., Atash B.

Candidates of Political Sciences, Docent – Suleimenov P.M.

Lecturers – Aliev S.S., Dagzhan Z., Barakbaeva T., Abilkalamova A.B.

Nowadays the Department developes a comprehensive initiative topic related to innovation in the field of national philosophy, theory and methodology of socio-Humanities: