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CSAT 2024 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2024 · Question 31 · Reading comprehension

Which of the following is/are emphatically conveyed by the author of the passage?

Directions for the following 4 (four) items: Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Passage—1

“The history of science is the real history of mankind.” In this striking epigram, a nineteenth-century writer links science with its background. Like most epigrams, its power lies in emphasizing by contrast an aspect of truth which may be easily overlooked. In this case, it is easy to overlook the relations between science and mankind, and to treat the former as some abstract third party, which can sometimes be praised for its beneficial influences, but frequently and conveniently blamed for the horrors of war. Science and mankind cannot be divorced from time to time at men’s convenience. Yet we have seen that, in spite of countless opportunities of improvement, the opening years of the present period of civilization have been dominated by international conflict. Is this the inevitable result of the progress of science or does the fault lie elsewhere?

CSAT 2024 · Q31

Reading comprehension Medium

Which of the following is/are emphatically conveyed by the author of the passage?

  1. 1.Without science, mankind could not have continued to exist till today.
  2. 2.It is the science that will ultimately determine the destiny of mankind.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2

The author stresses that science and mankind cannot be separated, and asks whether war is the inevitable result of science or whether the fault lies elsewhere. The passage never says mankind survives because of science, nor that science will decide mankind’s destiny.

  • ✗ 1. Mankind’s survival is not discussed. The passage is about the relation between science and mankind, not about mankind depending on science to exist.
  • ✗ 2. The author leans the other way: science should not be treated as ‘some abstract third party’, and the closing question suggests the fault may ‘lie elsewhere’, that is, with men. Science is not presented as the force that decides destiny.

Remember · ‘Emphatically conveyed’ needs a point the author clearly makes; reject statements giving science a decisive role the author questions.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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