Q4(a) 10 marks · 150 words · answered on its own
“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.
Approach · directive: “do you agree; give reasons”
What it asks · Take a reasoned position on whether emotional skills (EQ), more than cognitive ability alone (IQ), drive success, character, happiness and lifelong achievement.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- State whether you agree that EQ, not just IQ, decides success, character, happiness and lifelong achievement
- Give reasons in support, with examples
- Qualify the view where IQ still matters
Open with · Emotional intelligence defined as the ability to perceive, understand and manage emotions in oneself and others, with Goleman's components; the position: largely agree, as IQ opens doors but EQ decides how far one goes.
Cover
- Success and leadership: Satish Dhawan took responsibility for the failed SLV-3 launch and put Kalam in front when it succeeded in 1980.
- Happiness and long life: the Harvard Study of Adult Development finds close relationships better predictors than social class, IQ or genes.
- Character and administration: self-control and empathy under pressure; iGOT Karmayogi's courses in behavioural competencies.
- Qualification: IQ still matters in analytical and technical work; the view holds as 'not just IQ'.
Close with · Aristotle: anyone can get angry, but to do so to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time is not easy; that mastery, more than raw intellect, shapes a good life.
Add value (verified)
- Britannica: in Emotional Intelligence (1995), a work that popularised the notion, Daniel Goleman described emotional intelligence as five components: self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy and social skills.Emotional intelligence — Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗“In Emotional Intelligence (1995), a work that served to popularize the notion in the 1990s, the American psychologist Daniel Goleman described emotional intelligence as comprising five broadly understood components: self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills.”
- Kalam's account (address to students and youth, President of India website): after the first SLV-3 launch failed, Prof. Satish Dhawan announced at the press conference that he took responsibility, though Kalam was project director; after the successful launch of 18 July 1980 he put Kalam in front to share the success with the press.Address to One Lakh Students and Youth at International Stadium — Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam speeches, President of India website ↗“And there he announced that he takes responsibility for not achieving the mission, even though I was the project director and the mission director. When we launched SLV-3 on 18th July 1980, successfully injecting the Rohini Satellite in to the orbit, again there was a press conference and Prof. Dhawan put me in the front to share the success story with the press.”
- The Harvard Gazette (11 April 2017), on the Harvard Study of Adult Development: close relationships, more than money or fame, keep people happy throughout their lives, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.Good genes are nice, but joy is better — The Harvard Gazette, 11 April 2017 ↗“Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.”
- 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”
- 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”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 205words · Minimalist IAS
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to perceive, understand and manage emotions in oneself and others; Daniel Goleman, who popularised it in 1995, listed self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy and social skills.
I largely agree: IQ opens doors, but EQ decides how far one goes and how well one lives.
- Success and leadership: when the first SLV-3 launch failed, Prof. Satish Dhawan took responsibility himself; when SLV-3 succeeded in 1980, he put Kalam in front of the press. Such leaders build teams that win.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
Q4(b) 10 marks · 150 words · answered on its own
Differentiate ‘moral intuition’ from ‘moral reasoning’ with suitable examples.
Approach · directive: “differentiate; with examples”
What it asks · Contrast moral intuition, the instant felt judgement, with moral reasoning, the deliberate weighing of principles, using examples, and show how the two relate.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- Define moral intuition and moral reasoning
- Differentiate the two with suitable examples
- Show how the two relate in a sound decision
Open with · Definitions: moral intuition as an instant, felt sense that something is right or wrong, arriving before any argument; moral reasoning as the conscious weighing of principles, rights and consequences.
Cover
- A table contrasts the two on speed, source and risk.
- Intuition: pulling a drowning child out, unease at a contractor's gift; Kahneman's System 1 and Haidt's intuitions-first finding.
- Reasoning: a Collector allocating scarce ventilators by triage criteria; Kahneman's System 2.
- Each can mislead: caste prejudice corrected by reasoning and Article 17; a bribe rationalised as 'speed money', checked by intuition.
Close with · Rawls's reflective equilibrium, adjusting principles and judgements until they agree: intuition to notice a wrong, reasoning to decide it.
Add value (verified)
- 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.”
- SEP: John Rawls proposed the method of reflective equilibrium, which starts from considered judgments made in circumstances appropriate for moral deliberation.Reflective Equilibrium — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗“John Rawls proposed to address these concerns through the method of reflective equilibrium. We first ensure that our judgments are considered, being made in circumstances appropriate for moral deliberation.”
- Reflective equilibrium (SEP): equilibrium is reached where principles and judgments have been revised so that they agree; in short, the method is the mutual adjustment of principles and judgments in the light of relevant argument and theory.Reflective Equilibrium — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗“Equilibrium is reached where principles and judgments have been revised such that they agree with each other. In short, the method of reflective equilibrium is the mutual adjustment of principles and judgments in the light of relevant argument and theory.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 195words · Minimalist IAS
Moral intuition is an instant, felt sense that something is right or wrong, arriving before any argument; moral reasoning is the conscious weighing of principles, rights and consequences to reach and justify a judgement.
| Aspect | Moral intuition | Moral reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Instant, felt | Slow, deliberate |
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
