Instructions

Read the following passage and provide appropriate answers for the questions

There is an essential and irreducible ‘duality’ in the normative conceptualization of an individual person. We can see the person in terms of his or her ‘agency’, recognizing and respecting his or her ability to form goals, commitments, values, etc., and we can also see the person in terms of his or her ‘well-being’. This dichotomy is lost in a model of exclusively self- interested motivation, in which a person’s agency must be entirely geared to his or her own well-being. But once that straitjacket of self-interested motivation is removed, it becomes possible to recognize the indisputable fact that the person’s agency can well be geared to considerations not covered - or at least not fully covered - by his or her own well-being. Agency may be seen as important (not just instrumentally for the pursuit of well-being, but also intrinsically), but that still leaves open the question as to how that agency is to be evaluated and appraised. Even though the use of one’s agency is a matter for oneself to judge, the need for careful assessment of aims, objective, allegiances, etc., and the conception of the good, may be important and exacting. To recognize the distinction between the ‘agency aspect’ and the ‘well-being aspect’ of a person does not require us to take the view that the person’s success as an agent must be independent, or completely separable from, his or her success in terms of well-being. A person may well feel happier and better off as a result of achieving what he or she wanted to achieve - perhaps for his or her family, or community, or class, or party, or some other cause. Also it is quite possible that a person’s well-being will go down as a result of frustration if there is some failure to achieve what he or she wanted to achieve as an agent, even though those achievements are not directly concerned with his or her well-being. There is really no sound basis for demanding that the agency aspect and the well-being aspect of a person should be independent of each other, and it is, I suppose, even possible that every change in one will affect the other as well. However, the point at issue is not the plausibility of their independence, but the sustainability and relevance of the distinction. The fact that two variables may be so related that one cannot change without the other, does not imply that they are the same variable, or that they will have the same values, or that the value of one can be obtained from the other on basis of some simple transformation. The importance of an agency achievement does not rest entirely on the enhancement of well-being that it may indirectly cause. The agency achievement and well-being achievement, both of which have some distinct importance, may be casually linked with each other, but this fact does not compromise the specific importance of either. In so far as utility - based welfare calculations concentrate only on the well- being of the person, ignoring the agency aspect, or actually fails to distinguish between the agency aspect and well-being aspect altogether, something of real importance is lost.

Question 11

Read the sentences given below and choose the option that is best in accordance with the ideas in the passage.
I.There is a need to distinguish between the agency aspect and the well-being aspect of a person.
II.A person can be conceptualized in terms of either agency or well-being.
III.A person is important, not just instrumentally, for the pursuit of well-being

Video Solution

Solution

Sentence 1 and 3 can be inferred from the passage. Sentence 2 is incorrect because of these lines form the passage:
"The fact that two variables may be so related that one cannot change without the other, does not imply that they are the same variable, or that they will have the same values, or that the value of one can be obtained from the other on basis of some simple transformation."

This makes it clear that knowing the value of sense of agency doesn't necessarily mean that the value of sense of well being can be easily calculated. The 2 issues might be very closely correlated but they are not the same thing and thus, not linked 100% of the time completely.

Question 12

The idea of agency, as used in the passage, is implied in all the options given below, except:

Video Solution

Solution

We have been explained sense of agency by these words:
"We can see the person in terms of his or her ‘agency’, recognizing and respecting his or her ability to form goals, commitments, values, etc."
Option A,B,C,D can be seen as people being driven by their sense of agency. However, E is out of sync with the given sentence as an ascetic is someone who has renounced the world and thus, in terms of understanding of the sense of agency, he must hardly have any interest in world affairs. Hence, for him to be praying for world peace, he must be driven by something other than an immediate sense of agency. Hence, it is the answer.

Instructions

For the following questions answer them individually

Question 13

Which of the following sentences is grammatically incorrect?

Video Solution

Solution

'Ability of' is incorrect in option E. The correct usage is 'ability to'. All other options are grammatically correct.
Hence, option E is the correct answer.

Question 14

Alfredo, Diego and Lionel are discussing Argentinean football.
Alfredo: Argentina was a football powerhouse.
Diego: Argentina is a football powerhouse.
Lionel: Argentina will be a football powerhouse.
Which of the following cannot be inferred from the above conversation?

Video Solution

Solution

Alfredo has a good thought about the past while Diego has a good thought about the present.
This does not mean that Alfredo would disagree heavily with Diego and be adamant that only the past state of Argentinian football was a bright one and the present is not. Hence, D is incorrect.

Question 15

Choose the grammatically correct sentence from the options given below.

Video Solution

Solution

'those' is the appropriate pronoun to be used in the given context.

Answer is option D.

Question 16

Ethologists, people who study animal behavior, have traditionally divided an organism’s actions into two categories: learned behavior (based on experience) and instinctive behavior (based on genotype). Some current scholars reject this distinction, claiming that all behavior is a predictable interaction of experience and genotype.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the arguments made in the sentence above?

Video Solution

Solution

The main point of the paragraph is that the behavior of all organisms is an outcome of the interaction between experience and genotypes. Hence, all organisms with identical genotypes and identical experience will always behave in identical manner. This is given in option D.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

Question 17

The benefits of psychotherapy result not only from the advice the therapist gives but also from the supportive relationship offered to the patient. Even though this relationship may cost large amounts of money over many years, most patients interpret the therapist’s concern for them as genuine and identify this caring relationship as the primary factor in improving their mental health. However, recent studies have found that only eight percent of therapist/patient relationships continue after the patient terminates formal paid visits.
Which of the following is in accordance with the ideas contained in the passage? Choose the best option.

Video Solution

Solution

The passage states that even though psychotherapy is expensive, the supportive relationship offered by therapists benefits patients a lot. But in the last line, it has been mentioned that very few therapists continue this relationship after the paid visits are terminated. Hence, we can infer that they are equally concerned with money-making. Option A is the correct answer.
All other options are irrelevant or alien to the passage.

Question 18

Most of the Asian countries have trade-deficit with China. Bangladesh’s trade deficit with China this year has increased by 35%. Despite large increases in exports to China, Indonesia’s trade deficit with China continues to increase. So does that of South Korea, home of Samsung Electronics, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronic gadgets.
Which of the following, if true, would be most inconsistent with the above passage?

Video Solution

Solution

In the given paragraph, it has been mentioned that exports to China from Indonesia has increased significantly. At the same time the trade deficit of Indonesia with China has widened. Trade deficit is exports minus imports. If the trade deficit has widened then the imports should have increased at a higher rate as compared to the exports.

So, option C which mentions the decrease in exports to Indonesia from china is inconsistent with the information given in the passage.
Hence, option C is the correct answer.

Question 19

All who studied commerce enjoy sports. No tax consultant enjoys sports. All those who enjoy sports love classical music.
If the above sentences are true, which of the following also must be true?

Video Solution

Solution

From the venn diagram, we can see that only option D is possible.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

Question 20

The head ___ was annoyed to see a _ in the soup.
The option that would best fill the blanks in the above sentence would be:

Video Solution

Solution

Before the first blank, 'head' is present. So, 'chief' which has the same meaning as 'head' cannot fill the first blank. Thus, the first blank would be filled by 'chef'.
Housefly is the name of an insect which could fill the second blank.
Hence, option B is the correct answer.

CAT Content

XAT 2012 Question Paper

The idea of agency, as used in the passage, is implied in all the options given below, except:

Which of the following sentences is grammatically incorrect?

Alfredo, Diego and Lionel are discussing Argentinean football.
Alfredo: Argentina was a football powerhouse.
Diego: Argentina is a football powerhouse.
Lionel: Argentina will be a football powerhouse.
Which of the following cannot be inferred from the above conversation?

Choose the grammatically correct sentence from the options given below.

All who studied commerce enjoy sports. No tax consultant enjoys sports. All those who enjoy sports love classical music.
If the above sentences are true, which of the following also must be true?

The head ___ was annoyed to see a _ in the soup.
The option that would best fill the blanks in the above sentence would be:

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