Scientism has left humanity in our technical mastery of inanimate nature, but improvised us in our quest for an answer to the riddle of the universe and of our existence in it. Scientism has done worse than that with respect to our status as social beings, that is, to our life with our fellow human beings. The quest for the technical mastery of social life, comparable to our mastery over nature, did not find scientist at a loss for an answer: reason suggested that physical nature and social life were fundamentally alike and therefore proposed identical methods for their domination. Since reason in the form of causality reveals itself most plainly in nature, nature became the model for the social world and the natural sciences the image of what the social sciences one day would be. According to scientism, there was only one truth, the truth of science, and by knowing it, humanity would know all. This was, however, a fallacious argument, its universal acceptance initiated an intellectual movement and a political technique which retarded, rather than furthered, human mastery of the social world. The analogy between the natural and social worlds is mistaken for two reasons. On the one hand human action is unable to model the social world with the same degree of technical perfection that is possible in the natural world. On the other hand, the very notion that physical nature is the embodiment of reason from which the analogy between natural and social worlds derives, is invalidated by modern scientific thought itself.
Physical nature, as seen by the practitioner of sciences consists of a multitude of isolated facts over which human action has complete control. We know that water boils at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit and, by exposing water to this temperature, we can make it boil at will. All practical knowledge of physical nature and all control over it are essentially of the same kind.
Scientism proposed that the same kind of knowledge and of control held true for the social world. The search for a single cause, in the social sciences, was but a faithful copy of the method of the physical sciences. Yet in the social sphere, the logical coherence of the natural sciences finds no adequate object and there is no single cause by the creation of which one can create a certain effect at will. Any single cause in the social sphere can entail an indefinite number of different effects, and the same effect can spring from an indefinite number of different effects, and the same effect can spring from an indefinite number of different causes.
The author’s attitude towards the application of scientism to the social sciences is best described as one of
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- committed scrutiny
- dismissal
- criticism
- approval
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
- Option (a) “committed scrutiny” implies a neutral investigative stance, which is not the case.
- Option (b) “dismissal” is too extreme; the author critiques the approach but does not completely reject all scientific inquiry.
- Option (d) “approval” is the opposite of the author’s tone.
According to the author, causes and effects in the social world are
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- unrelated to each other
- difficult to identify or predict.
- subject to manipulation at will.
- reducible to a single cause for each effect.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
- Option (a) is wrong — they are related, but in complex ways.
- Option (c) is wrong because the author says they cannot be manipulated at will like physical phenomena.
- Option (d) is directly refuted in the passage.
Which of the following statements about scientism is best supported by the passage?
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- Scientism provides the basis for mastery of the social world.
- Scientism is only superficially concerned with cause-and-effect relationships.
- Scientism is poorly suited to explain social behaviour.
- Scientism is no longer applicable to the study of the natural sciences.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
- Option (a) is contradicted — the author says it has retarded mastery of the social world.
- Option (b) is inaccurate; the problem is not superficial concern but inappropriate application.
- Option (d) is irrelevant — the criticism is about its application to the social sciences, not the natural sciences.
As is used in the passage, the term ‘scientism’ can best be defined as
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- belief that the methods of the physical sciences can be applied to all fields of enquiry.
- faith that human beings can master their own physical limitations.
- desire to keep the social sciences separate from the physical sciences.
- opinion that scientists must take moral responsibility for their actions.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
- Options (b), (c), and (d) are unrelated to the definition given in the passage.
In the passage, the author is most concerned with doing which of the following?
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- Upholding the primacy of reason over superstition.
- Attacking a particular approach to the social sciences.
- Describing a method for achieving control over human social behaviour.
- Demonstrating the superiority of the social sciences over the natural sciences.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
- Option (a) is unrelated.
- Option (c) contradicts the author’s point — he argues against controlling social behaviour via scientism.
- Option (d) is not discussed.
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
As of 2009, there are 890 World Heritage Sites that are located in 148 countries (map). 689 of these sites are cultural and include places like the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Historic Center of Vienna in Austria. 176 are natural and feature such locations as the U.S.’s Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks. 25 of the World Heritage Sites are considered mixed i.e. natural and cultural Peru’s Machu Picchu is one of these. Italy has the highest number of World Heritage Sites with 44. India has 36 (28 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed) World Heritage Sites. The World Heritage Committee has divided the world’s countries into five geographic zones which include (1) Africa, (2) Arab States, (3) Asia Pacific (including Australia and Oceania), (4) Europe and North America and (5) Latin America and the Caribbean.
WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN DANGER
Like many natural, historic and cultural sites around the world, many World Heritage Sites are in danger of being destroyed or lost due to war, poaching, natural disasters like earthquakes, uncontrolled urbanization, heavy tourist traffic and environmental factors like air pollution and acid rain.- Maharashtra Class X Board - 2025
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- I give the biggest credit of this honour to my movement’s Kaalu Kumar, Dhoom Das and Adarsh Kishore from India and Iqbal Masih from Pakistan who made the supreme sacrifice for protect ing the freedom and dignity of children. I humbly accept this award on behalf of all such martyrs, my fellow activists across the world and my countrymen. My journey from the great land of Lord Buddha, Guru Nanak and Mahatma Gandhi; India to Norway is a connect between the two centres of global peace and brotherhood, ancient and modern. Friends, the Nobel Committee has generously invited me to present a “lecture.” Respectfully, I am unable to do that. Because, I am representing here — the sound of silence. The cry of innocence. And, the face of invisibility. I represent millions of those children who are left behind and that’s why I have kept an empty chair here as a reminder. I have come here only to share the voices and dreams of our children– because they are all our children– (gesture to everyone in the audience). I have looked into their frightened and exhausted eyes. I have held their injured bodies and felt their broken spirits.
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