NMAT Mock Test - 6 (New Pattern) - CAT MCQ

Read the following passage and provide appropriate answers.

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.

Q. According to the ideas in the passage, the following are not true expect:

Read the following passage and provide appropriate answers.

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.

Q. Of the options presented below, which one is the best example for the ideas propounded in the passage?

Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers.

Soros, we must note, has never been a champion of free market capitalism. He has followed for nearly all his public life the political ideas of the late Sir Karl Popper who laid out a rather jumbled case for what he dubbed “the open society” in his The Open Society and Its Enemies (1953). Such a society is what we ordinarily call the pragmatic system in which politicians get involved in people's lives but without any heavy theoretical machinery to guide them, simply as the ad hoc parental authorities who are believed to be needed to keep us all on the straight and narrow. Popper was at one time a Marxist socialist but became disillusioned with that idea because he came to believe that systematic ideas do not work in any area of human concern.

The Popperian open society Soros promotes is characterized by a very general policy of having no firm principles, not even those needed for it to have some constancy and integrity. This makes the open society a rather wobbly idea, since even what Popper himself regarded as central to all human thinking, critical rationalism, may be undermined by the openness of the open society since its main target is negative: avoid dogmatic thinking, and avoid anything that even comes close to a set of unbreachable principles. No, the open society is open to anything at all, at least for experimental purposes. No holds are barred, which, if you think about it, undermines even that very idea and becomes unworkable.

Accordingly, in a society Soros regards suited to human community living, the state can manipulate many aspects of human life, including, of course, the economic behavior of individuals and firms. It can control the money supply, impose wage and price controls, dabble in demand or supply-side economics, and do nearly everything a central planning board might - provided it does not settle into any one policy firmly, unbendingly. That is the gist of Soros's Popperian politics.

Soros' distrusts capitalism in particular, because of the alleged inadequacy of neoclassical economics, the technical economic underpinnings of capitalist thinking offered up in many university economics departments. He, like many others outside and even inside the economics discipline, finds the arid reductionism of this social science false to the facts, and rightly so. But the defense of capitalist free markets does not rest on this position.

Neo-classical thinking depends in large part on the 18th- and 19th-century belief that human society operates according to laws, not unlike those that govern the physical universe. Most of social science embraced that faith, so economics isn't unusual in its loyalty to classical mechanics. Nor do all economists take the deterministic lawfulness of economic science literally - some understand that the laws begin to operate only once people embark upon economic pursuits. Outside their commercial ventures, people can follow different principles and priorities, even if it is undeniable that most of their endeavors have economic features. Yet, it would be foolish to construe religion or romance or even scientific inquiry as solely explicable by reference to the laws of economics.

In his criticism of neo-classical economic science, then, George Soros has a point: the discipline is too dependent on Newtonian physics as the model of science. As a result, the predictions of economists who look at markets as if they were machines need to be taken with a grain Of Salt Some - for example the school of Austrian economists - have made exactly that point against the neo-classical.

Soros draws a mistaken inference: if one defense of the market is flawed, the market lacks defense. This is wrong. If it is true that from A we can infer B, it does not prove that B can only be inferred from A; C or Z, too, might be a reason for B.

Q. As per the paragraph, which of the following is true?

Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers.

Soros, we must note, has never been a champion of free market capitalism. He has followed for nearly all his public life the political ideas of the late Sir Karl Popper who laid out a rather jumbled case for what he dubbed “the open society” in his The Open Society and Its Enemies (1953). Such a society is what we ordinarily call the pragmatic system in which politicians get involved in people's lives but without any heavy theoretical machinery to guide them, simply as the ad hoc parental authorities who are believed to be needed to keep us all on the straight and narrow. Popper was at one time a Marxist socialist but became disillusioned with that idea because he came to believe that systematic ideas do not work in any area of human concern.

The Popperian open society Soros promotes is characterized by a very general policy of having no firm principles, not even those needed for it to have some constancy and integrity. This makes the open society a rather wobbly idea, since even what Popper himself regarded as central to all human thinking, critical rationalism, may be undermined by the openness of the open society since its main target is negative: avoid dogmatic thinking, and avoid anything that even comes close to a set of unbreachable principles. No, the open society is open to anything at all, at least for experimental purposes. No holds are barred, which, if you think about it, undermines even that very idea and becomes unworkable.

Accordingly, in a society Soros regards suited to human community living, the state can manipulate many aspects of human life, including, of course, the economic behavior of individuals and firms. It can control the money supply, impose wage and price controls, dabble in demand or supply-side economics, and do nearly everything a central planning board might - provided it does not settle into any one policy firmly, unbendingly. That is the gist of Soros's Popperian politics.

Soros' distrusts capitalism in particular, because of the alleged inadequacy of neoclassical economics, the technical economic underpinnings of capitalist thinking offered up in many university economics departments. He, like many others outside and even inside the economics discipline, finds the arid reductionism of this social science false to the facts, and rightly so. But the defense of capitalist free markets does not rest on this position.

Neo-classical thinking depends in large part on the 18th- and 19th-century belief that human society operates according to laws, not unlike those that govern the physical universe. Most of social science embraced that faith, so economics isn't unusual in its loyalty to classical mechanics. Nor do all economists take the deterministic lawfulness of economic science literally - some understand that the laws begin to operate only once people embark upon economic pursuits. Outside their commercial ventures, people can follow different principles and priorities, even if it is undeniable that most of their endeavors have economic features. Yet, it would be foolish to construe religion or romance or even scientific inquiry as solely explicable by reference to the laws of economics.

In his criticism of neo-classical economic science, then, George Soros has a point: the discipline is too dependent on Newtonian physics as the model of science. As a result, the predictions of economists who look at markets as if they were machines need to be taken with a grain Of Salt Some - for example the school of Austrian economists - have made exactly that point against the neo-classical.

Soros draws a mistaken inference: if one defense of the market is flawed, the market lacks defense. This is wrong. If it is true that from A we can infer B, it does not prove that B can only be inferred from A; C or Z, too, might be a reason for B.

Q. As per the paragraph, author believes that

Analyse the following passage and provide appropriate answers.

Soros, we must note, has never been a champion of free market capitalism. He has followed for nearly all his public life the political ideas of the late Sir Karl Popper who laid out a rather jumbled case for what he dubbed “the open society” in his The Open Society and Its Enemies (1953). Such a society is what we ordinarily call the pragmatic system in which politicians get involved in people's lives but without any heavy theoretical machinery to guide them, simply as the ad hoc parental authorities who are believed to be needed to keep us all on the straight and narrow. Popper was at one time a Marxist socialist but became disillusioned with that idea because he came to believe that systematic ideas do not work in any area of human concern.

The Popperian open society Soros promotes is characterized by a very general policy of having no firm principles, not even those needed for it to have some constancy and integrity. This makes the open society a rather wobbly idea, since even what Popper himself regarded as central to all human thinking, critical rationalism, may be undermined by the openness of the open society since its main target is negative: avoid dogmatic thinking, and avoid anything that even comes close to a set of unbreachable principles. No, the open society is open to anything at all, at least for experimental purposes. No holds are barred, which, if you think about it, undermines even that very idea and becomes unworkable.

Accordingly, in a society Soros regards suited to human community living, the state can manipulate many aspects of human life, including, of course, the economic behavior of individuals and firms. It can control the money supply, impose wage and price controls, dabble in demand or supply-side economics, and do nearly everything a central planning board might - provided it does not settle into any one policy firmly, unbendingly. That is the gist of Soros's Popperian politics.

Soros' distrusts capitalism in particular, because of the alleged inadequacy of neoclassical economics, the technical economic underpinnings of capitalist thinking offered up in many university economics departments. He, like many others outside and even inside the economics discipline, finds the arid reductionism of this social science false to the facts, and rightly so. But the defense of capitalist free markets does not rest on this position.

Neo-classical thinking depends in large part on the 18th- and 19th-century belief that human society operates according to laws, not unlike those that govern the physical universe. Most of social science embraced that faith, so economics isn't unusual in its loyalty to classical mechanics. Nor do all economists take the deterministic lawfulness of economic science literally - some understand that the laws begin to operate only once people embark upon economic pursuits. Outside their commercial ventures, people can follow different principles and priorities, even if it is undeniable that most of their endeavors have economic features. Yet, it would be foolish to construe religion or romance or even scientific inquiry as solely explicable by reference to the laws of economics.

In his criticism of neo-classical economic science, then, George Soros has a point: the discipline is too dependent on Newtonian physics as the model of science. As a result, the predictions of economists who look at markets as if they were machines need to be taken with a grain Of Salt Some - for example the school of Austrian economists - have made exactly that point against the neo-classical.

Soros draws a mistaken inference: if one defense of the market is flawed, the market lacks defense. This is wrong. If it is true that from A we can infer B, it does not prove that B can only be inferred from A; C or Z, too, might be a reason for B.

Q. According to the author,

Directions: In the following set of questions, a word in capital is followed by four options. From the options, find the appropriate word that reflects the closest or similar meaning (synonym) to the given word

BEDIZEN:

Directions: In the following set of questions, a word in capital is followed by four options. From the options, find the appropriate word that reflects the closest or similar meaning (synonym) to the given word

JUDICIOUS

Directions: Each question below has blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank which best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

The Changing of the Guard is the biggest show, ____ foreign tourists strongly believe that the whole edifice and its contents, including resident royals, have been put there _____ their amusement

Directions: Arrange the sentences A, B, C, and D from a logical sequence between sentences 1 and 6.

1. The necessity for regional integration in South Asia is underlined by the very history of the last 45 years since the liquidation of the British Empire in this part of the world.

A. After the partition of the Indian Subcontinent, Pakistan was formed in that very area which the imperial powers had always marked out as the potential base for operations against the Russian power in Central Asia.

B. Because of the disunity and ill-will among the South Asian neighbours, particular India and Pakistan, great powers from outside the area could meddle into their affairs and thereby keep neighbours apart.

C. It needs to be added that it was the bountiful supply of sophisticated arms that emboldened Pakistan to go for warlike bellicosity towards India.

D. As a part of the cold war strategy of the US, Pakistan was sucked into Washington's military alliance spreading over the years.

6. Internally too, it was the massive induction of American arms into Pakistan which empowered the military junta of that country to stuff out the civilian government and destroy democracy in Pakistan.

Directions: Arrange the sentences A, B, C, and D from a logical sequence between sentences 1 and 6.

1. What does the state do in a country where tax is very low?

A. It tries to spy upon the taxpayers.

B. It investigates income sources and spending patterns.

C. Exactly what the tax authority tries to do now even if inconsistently.

D. It could also encourage people to denounce to the tax authorities any conspicuously prosperous neighbours who maybe suspected of not paying their taxes properly.

6. The ultimate solution would be an Orwellian System.

Directions: In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

Jamshedji Tata is (A) to be the path-finder of modern industrial builders. He is known as the grand-father of the Indian industry for his acumen and enthusiasm. Nobody else could have (B)of the new industries started by Jamshedji at that time when industrial (C) and revolution was yet to come to India.Jamshedji's father Nasarvanji Tata used to trade in jutewithChina and Britain. He started (D) from India. Jamshedji started a cloth mill in Nagpur more than hundred years ago.

Q. Find out the appropriate word at “B”?

Directions: In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

Jamshedji Tata is (A) to be the path-finder of modern industrial builders. He is known as the grand-father of the Indian industry for his acumen and enthusiasm. Nobody else could have (B)of the new industries started by Jamshedji at that time when industrial (C) and revolution was yet to come to India.Jamshedji's father Nasarvanji Tata used to trade in jutewithChina and Britain. He started (D) from India. Jamshedji started a cloth mill in Nagpur more than hundred years ago.

Q. Find out the appropriate word at “A”?

Directions: In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

Jamshedji Tata is (A) to be the path-finder of modern industrial builders. He is known as the grand-father of the Indian industry for his acumen and enthusiasm. Nobody else could have (B)of the new industries started by Jamshedji at that time when industrial (C) and revolution was yet to come to India.Jamshedji's father Nasarvanji Tata used to trade in jutewithChina and Britain. He started (D) from India. Jamshedji started a cloth mill in Nagpur more than hundred years ago.

Q. Find out the appropriate word at “D”?

Directions: In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

Jamshedji Tata is (A) to be the path-finder of modern industrial builders. He is known as the grand-father of the Indian industry for his acumen and enthusiasm. Nobody else could have (B)of the new industries started by Jamshedji at that time when industrial (C) and revolution was yet to come to India.Jamshedji's father Nasarvanji Tata used to trade in jutewithChina and Britain. He started (D) from India. Jamshedji started a cloth mill in Nagpur more than hundred years ago.

Q. Find out the appropriate word at “C”?

Directions: Each sentence below has been broken up into four parts sequentially (a, b, c, d). Choose that part which contains a mistake. Select option e, if there is no error.

Directions: Each sentence below has been broken up into four parts sequentially (a, b, c, d). Choose that part which contains a mistake. Select option e, if there is no error.

Directions: For each of the following questions select the answer pair that expresses a relationship most similar to that expressed in the capitalized pair.

PALATE : MOUTH

Directions: In the following set of questions, a word in capital is followed by four options. From the options, find the appropriate word that reflects the Opposite / Contradictory meaning(Antonym) to the given word.

PARSIMONIOUS:

Directions: In the following set of questions, a word in capital is followed by four options. From the options, find the appropriate word that reflects the Opposite / Contradictory meaning(Antonym) to the given word.

UBIQUITOUS :

Directions: Choose the word most nearly opposite to the given word.

Daunt

Directions: Choose the word most nearly opposite to the given word.

Confederate

Directions: In the following question, a word in capital is followed by four options. From the options, find the appropriate word that reflects the closest or similar meaning (synonym) to the given word

ENNUI:

Directions: The question below has blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank which best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

It was clearly not going to be an entirely voluntary exercise, ____ schools rescheduling timings and many issuing stern warnings ____ ensure that students listened to the speaker.

Directions: The question below has blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank which best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

What's more, he took the battle against inflation to the next level ____ targeting consumer price inflation rather _____ wholesale price inflation, which has traditionally been the benchmark ____ the RBI