Q1-3. Instructions: Read the passage carefully and answer the THREE questions that follow.
Stupidity is a very specific cognitive failing. Crudely put, it occurs when you don’t have the right conceptual tools for the job. The result is an inability to make sense of what is happening and a resulting tendency to force phenomena into crude, distorting pigeonholes.
This is easiest to introduce with a tragic case. British high command during the First World War frequently understood trench warfare using concepts and strategies from the cavalry battles of their youth. As one of Field Marshal Douglas Haig’s subordinates later remarked, they thought of the trenches as ‘mobile operations at the halt’: i.e., as fluid battle lines with the simple caveat that nothing in fact budged for years. Unsurprisingly, this did not serve them well in formulating a strategy: they were hampered, beyond the shortage of material
resources, by a kind of ‘conceptual obsolescence’, a failure to update their cognitive tools to fit the task in hand. In at least some cases, intelligence actively abets stupidity by allowing pernicious rationalisation.
Stupidity will often arise in cases like this, when an outdated conceptual framework is forced into service, mangling the user’s grip on some new phenomenon. It is important to distinguish this from mere error. We
make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Stupidity is rather one specific and stubborn cause of error. Historically, philosophers have worried a great deal about the irrationality of not taking the available means to achieve goals: Tom wants to get fit, yet his running shoes are quietly gathering dust. The stock solution to Tom’s quandary is simple willpower. Stupidity is very different from this. It is rather a lack of the necessary means, a lack of the necessary intellectual equipment. Combatting it will typically require not brute willpower but the
construction of a new way of seeing our self and our world. Such stupidity is perfectly compatible with intelligence: Haig was by any standard a smart man.
1. Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the author’s view on stupidity?
A Comprehending a problem by applying our existing world view is stupidity
B The inability to avoid forcing our current views on a new situation is stupidity
C Pushing our extant solution to fix an alien problem is stupidity
D The inability to comprehend what is happening around us is stupidity
E The novelty of the problem, in relation to our cognitive capacity, is the cause of stupidity
EXPLANATION
.C
“The result is an inability to make sense of what is happening and a resulting tendency to force phenomena into crude, distorting pigeonholes.”
The author underlines our inability to comprehend/understand a problem and the application of know ideas/solutions to address the same – this, according to him, is stupidity. Option C rewords this point – [Pushing our extant solution to fix an alien problem is stupidity]
Option A: [Comprehending a problem by applying our existing worldview is stupidity] The author states that we are unable to comprehend the problem in the first place – the option emphasises that the way in which we are comprehending the problem is incorrect [distortion #1]. Furthermore, we are applying our existing
ideas/solutions to address the problem and not to comprehend it [distortion #2].
Option B: The distortion here is pretty clear – [The inability to avoid forcing our current views on a new situation is stupidity] (completely different from the idea discussed in the passage)
Option D: This does not fully capture the idea presented by the author and hence, can be rejected.
Option E: This is not implied – the author doesn’t blame the “novelty of the problem” for our stupidity, and thus, this option is incorrect.
2. Which of the following statements BEST explains why stupidity for a smart person is “perfectly compatible with intelligence”?
A Intelligence is poorly defined, and is usually a perception, making it compatible with stupidity.
B A new phenomenon creates fear, rushing intelligent people to explain it to put others at ease.
C Past successes make us believe that we are intelligent and capable of explaining any new phenomenon.
D Intelligent people are scared to admit their lack of knowledge, and therefore, try to explain everything, including things they do not understand.
E Intelligence, when perceived through past successes, makes any rationalization of a new phenomenon acceptable.
EXPLANATION
C
“…they were hampered, beyond the shortage of material resources, by a kind of ‘conceptual obsolescence’, a failure to update their cognitive tools to fit the task in hand. In at least some cases, intelligence actively abets
stupidity by allowing pernicious rationalisation…”
The author underscores how using past/obsolete models to fit novel situations qualifies as stupidity; he adds that intelligence furthers such stupidity by providing “pernicious rationalisation” – in a way, conveying how we justify the usage of past models to fit the current situation [as is the case with Haig]. Hence, our success with past models makes us presume that they’ll function in new situations. Option C comes closest to presenting the author’s intention when he correlates intelligence and stupidity.
Options A, B and D, can be easily eliminated since they do not relate to the discussion [are not implied]. Option E, while closer to the idea in C, focuses on the idea around ‘rationalisation’ rather than the application of past models to new problems. Furthermore, we cannot discern what is meant by “rationalization…acceptable.”
Hence, the correct answer is Option C.
3. Based on the passage, which of the following can BEST help a leader avoid stupidity?
A Be ready to discuss with everyone before taking a decision
B Being aware that our current answers are only applicable to the current context
C Being aware that we are short of the required resources
D Be cautious in taking a decision until the future unfolds
E Being aware that we must handle future with a different cognitive tool
EXPLANATION
B
To combat stupidity, according to the passage what is needed is “the construction of a new way of seeing ourselves and our world.” So, to avoid stupidity a leader must be aware that current answers are only applicable to the current content and that they must not be force-fit into crude pigeonholes.
Q 4-6. Instructions: Read the passage carefully and answer the THREE questions that follow.
What bullshit essentially misrepresents is neither the state of affairs to which it refers nor the beliefs of the speaker concerning that state of affairs. Those are what lies misrepresent, by virtue of being false. Since bullshit need not be false, it differs from lies in its misrepresentational intent. The bullshitter may not deceive
us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about is his enterprise. His only indispensably distinctive characteristic is that in a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to. This is the crux of the distinction between him and the liar. Both he and the liar represent themselves falsely as endeavoring to communicate the truth. The success of each depends upon deceiving us about that. But the fact about himself that the liar hides is that he is attempting to lead us away from a correct apprehension of reality; we are not to know that he wants us to believe something he supposes to be false. The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him; what we are not to understand is that his intention is neither to report the truth nor to conceal it. This does not mean that his speech is anarchically impulsive, but that the motive guiding and controlling it is unconcerned with how the things about which he speaks truly are. It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false.
4. Which of the following statements can be BEST inferred from the passage?
A Both the liar and the bullshitter misrepresent the truth
B Both the liar and the bullshitter intend to deceive in their own ways
C Both the liar and the bullshitter are guided by the truth
D Both the liar and the bullshitter live in their own worlds of realities
E Both the liar and the bullshitter are not bound by any conviction
EXPLANATION
B
According to the passage, a bullshitter attempts to deceive us about his enterprise/what he is up to, while a liar attempts to deceive by attempting to lead us away from what he supposes is true. So, both intend to deceive, in
their own ways.
Note that, according to the passage, the liar is bound by a conviction about what he believes to be the truth whereas the bullshitter is neither guided nor misguided by truth. So, option B is the correct answer.
5. Why does the author say that the bullshitter’s intention “is neither to report the truth nor to conceal it?”
A Because bullshitters are not convinced about the truth
B Because bullshitters know the truth
C Because bullshitters do not like to deceive
D Because bullshitters do not find the truth useful
E Because bullshitters are respectful to the truth
EXPLANATION
D
The line preceding the given line: “The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him”. So, bullshitters do not find the truth to be useful. Therefore, option D is the correct answer.
6. When will a liar BEST turn into a bullshitter?
A When a liar stops responding to the truth
B When a liar stops worrying about the correct comprehension of reality
C When a liar focusses only on the outcome and not on telling lies
D When a liar lies to people about his intention
E When a liar stops misrepresenting the state of affairs
EXPLANATION
C
We are told that a liar believes that he knows the truth and attempts to convince us of the opposite, while a bullshitter is not concerned about either the truth or lies but only about deceiving the listener. Hence, their agendas differ largely – the former focuses on lying, while the latter engages in deception [ the end outcome].
Hence, for a liar to become a bullshitter, he needs to focus on the outcome – i.e. deceiving others. Option C comes closest to capturing this idea.
Option A: The statement here is quite vague – deception is involved in both cases. The liar much be unconcerned by/detached from the truth [it is unclear if this relates to the idea of ‘not responding’]
Option B: We cannot conclusively state that a liar can transform into a bullshitter by not being worried about the correct ‘apprehension of reality’ – the idea is not relevant to the discussion on a bullshitter [i.e. the author has not presented it as a trait of a bullshitter]
Option D: The same applies to the bullshitter – both categories of individuals conceal their intentions [only that in the case of bullshitters, they are much less or not at all concerned about the truth]
Option E: Note that a bullshitter is not concerned with the state of affairs as demonstrated by these lines – “What bullshit essentially misrepresents is neither the state of affairs to which it refers nor the beliefs of the speaker concerning that state of affairs.”
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