(a) “What really matters for success, character, happiness and lifelong achievements is a definite set of emotional skills — your EQ — not just purely cognitive abilities that are measured by conventional IQ tests.” Do you agree with this view? Give reasons in support of your answer. (b) Differentiate ‘moral intuition’ from ‘moral reasoning’ with suitable examples.
Approach · directive: “do you agree / differentiate”
What it asks · (a) Take a reasoned position on emotional versus cognitive ability; (b) contrast quick gut-level moral judgement with deliberate moral reasoning, using examples.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- (a) Do you agree that EQ matters more than IQ for success, character and happiness: a position with reasons
- (b) Differentiate moral intuition from moral reasoning, with examples
Open with · Aristotle said anyone can get angry, but to do so to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time and in the right way is hard; that harder skill is emotional intelligence.
Cover
- (a) Agree largely: EQ (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skill) shapes leadership, teamwork, resilience and relationships, which sustain success and happiness.
- (a) Evidence from work: a brilliant but hot-tempered or unempathetic manager often fails, while an emotionally skilled officer earns trust and cooperation.
- (a) Qualification: IQ still matters, especially in technical fields, and EQ can be trained; the two are complementary, so 'not just IQ' is the safer reading.
- (a) In administration: EQ helps in crisis handling, resisting pressure, dealing with grievances and empathetic service delivery.
- (b) Moral intuition: an instant, emotion-laden sense of right and wrong without deliberate thought, such as rushing to save a drowning child or recoiling from cruelty.
- (b) Moral reasoning: conscious, stepwise weighing of principles, rights and consequences, such as deciding how to allocate scarce ventilators or compensate displaced families.
- (b) Relation: intuition is fast but can carry bias; reasoning corrects or justifies it; mature ethical decisions draw on both.
Close with · Emotional intelligence supplies the right feeling and moral reasoning the right principle; training that builds both produces officers who feel rightly and decide justly.
Add value (verified)
- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II: anyone can get angry, but to do so to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive and in the right way is not easy. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II (tr. W.D. Ross) — The Internet Classics Archive, MIT ↗“any one can get angry- that is easy- or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for every one, nor is it easy”
- The iGOT Karmayogi platform had over 1.48 crore users and over 4,200 courses across domain, functional and behavioural competencies (February 2026). iGOT Karmayogi platform — PIB, Ministry of Personnel (Parliament reply, 5 February 2026) ↗“As on date, more than 1.48 crore users have been onboarded, and the platform hosts over 4200 courses across domain, functional and behavioural competencies”
- Kahneman's Nobel lecture (2002): System 1 operations are fast, automatic and effortless; System 2 operations are slower, effortful and deliberately controlled. Daniel Kahneman, 'Maps of Bounded Rationality', Nobel Prize Lecture, 8 December 2002 — nobelprize.org ↗“The operations of System 1 are fast, automatic, effort- less, associative, and difficult to control or modify. The operations of System 2 are slower, serial, effortful, and deliberately controlled; they are also rela- tively flexible and potentially rule-governed.”
- David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (2.3.3): reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions. David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Book 2, Part 3, Section 3 — davidhume.org (Hume Texts Online) ↗“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
- Kohlberg's postconventional stages: a person is guided by respect for laws and moral rules (stage 5) or by abstract ethical principles such as justice and equality (stage 6). Lawrence Kohlberg — Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗“Finally, in the postconventional stages, 5 and 6, the child is guided by respect for laws and moral rules (stage 5)—though he recognizes them as somewhat arbitrary and not always valid—or by abstract ethical principles such as justice and equality (stage 6).”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 349 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
"Any one can get angry", wrote Aristotle, but to do so "to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way" is not easy. That harder skill is what we now call emotional intelligence.
(a) EQ, not just IQ, decides success, character and happiness: largely agree
- What EQ is: in Daniel Goleman's framework, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill; IQ tests measure reasoning and analysis.
- Success at work: a brilliant but short-tempered manager loses her team, while an officer who listens and stays calm earns cooperation; careers are won or lost socially.
- Character and happiness: self-regulation resists temptation and anger, and empathy sustains relationships, which shape a contented life more than test scores.
- Administration: crisis handling, composure under political pressure and empathetic grievance hearing are daily tests; the iGOT Karmayogi platform now offers courses in behavioural competencies (PIB, 2026), so EQ can be trained.
- Qualification: IQ still matters in analytical and technical work; a surgeon needs knowledge before bedside manner. The view holds as "not just IQ", not as "not IQ".
(b) Moral intuition and moral reasoning
| Aspect | Moral intuition | Moral reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Instant, felt | Slow, deliberate |
| Source | Emotion, habit | Principles, consequences |
| Risk | Bias | Rationalisation |
- Moral intuition: an instant, emotion-laden sense of right or wrong: pulling a child from a pond, or unease when a contractor's Diwali gift arrives. It works like Daniel Kahneman's System 1, fast and automatic; Hume held that reason is the slave of the passions, and Jonathan Haidt finds that intuitions come first and reasons follow.
- Moral reasoning: conscious weighing of rules, rights and consequences: a Collector allocating scarce ventilators between hospitals. It is System 2, slower, effortful and deliberately controlled; at Lawrence Kohlberg's highest stage it rests on abstract principles such as justice and equality.
- Relation: intuition is the alarm and reasoning the check; a mature officer revises a gut reaction when reasoning shows it to be biased.
Emotional intelligence supplies the right feeling and moral reasoning the right principle; training that builds both produces officers who feel rightly and decide justly.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.