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CAT 2025Slot 2VARCQues & Sol

Reading ComprehensionMedium

Passage

The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.

Different sciences exhibit different science cultures and practices. For example, in astronomy, observation - until what is today called the new astronomy - had always been limited to what could be seen within the limits of optical light. Indeed, until early modernity the limits to optical light were also limits of what humans could themselves see within their limited and relative perceptual spectrum of human vision. With early modernity and the invention of lensed optical instruments - telescopes - astronomers could begin to observe phenomena never seen before. Magnification and resolution began to allow what was previously imperceptible to be perceived - but within the familiar limits of optical vision. Galileo, having learned of the Dutch invention of a telescope by Hans Lippershey, went on to build some hundred of his own, improving from the Dutch 3x to nearly 30x telescopes - which turn out to be the limit of magnificational power without chromatic distortion. And it was with his own telescopes that he made the observations launching early modern astronomy (phases of Venus, satellites of Jupiter, etc.). Isaac Newton's later improvement with reflecting telescopes expanded upon the magnificational-resolution capacity of optical observation; and, from Newton to the twentieth century, improvement continued on to the later very large array of light telescopes today - following the usual technological trajectory of "more-is-better" but still remaining within the limits of the light spectrum.

Today's astronomy has now had the benefit of some four centuries of optical telescopy. The "new astronomy," however, opens the full known electromagnetic spectrum to observation, beginning with the accidental discovery of radio astronomy early in the twentieth century, and leading today to the diverse variety of EMS telescopes which can explore the range from gamma to radio waves. Thus, astronomy, now outfitted with new instruments, "smart" adaptive optics, very large arrays, etc., illustrates one style of instrumentally embodied science - a technoscience. Of course astronomy, with the very recent exceptions of probes to solar system bodies (Moon, Mars, Venus, asteroids), remains largely a "receptive" science, dependent upon instrumentation which can detect and receive emissions.

Contemporary biology displays a quite different instrument array and, according to Evelyn Fox-Keller, also a different scientific culture. She cites her own experience, coming from mathematical physics into microbiology, and takes account of the distinctive instrumental culture in her Making Sense of Life (2002). Here, particularly with the development of biotechnology, instrumentation is far more interventional than in the astronomy case. Microscopic instrumentation can be and often is interventional in style: "gene-splicing" and other techniques of biotechnology, while still in their infancy, are clearly part of the interventional trajectory of biological instrumentation. Yet, in both disciplines, the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalized and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories. So, minimalistically, one may conclude that the sciences are technologically, instrumentally embodied. But the styles of embodiment differ, and perhaps the last of the scientific disciplines to move into such technical embodiment is mathematics, which only contemporarily has come to rely more and more upon the computational machinery now in common use.

Question 1

None of the following statements, if true, contradicts the arguments in the passage EXCEPT:

Solution

1. What the Question Asks

This question uses a double-negative construction: "None of the following contradicts... EXCEPT." In simpler terms, we need to find the one statement that DOES contradict the passage's arguments. Three options are consistent with or neutral to the passage; one directly conflicts with it.

2. Key Idea & Flow

The passage discusses how different sciences develop different instrumental cultures. Regarding mathematics, the author states: "perhaps the last of the scientific disciplines to move into such technical embodiment is mathematics, which only contemporarily has come to rely more and more upon the computational machinery now in common use." This is specifically about technical/instrumental embodiment, not about developing a "scientific culture" in general. The passage, through Evelyn Fox-Keller's example, implies that scientific cultures already exist independently of instrumentation.

3. Elimination Approach

  • 🔴 Option A: The passage describes astronomy as "largely" receptive and biology as "far more interventional," using hedged language. This allows for overlap, so claiming some instruments could be both receptive and interventional does not contradict the passage.

  • 🟢 Option B: The passage says mathematics is late to adopt technical embodiment (computational machinery). Option B twists this into the claim that mathematics is only now developing a "scientific culture." The passage never equates instrumental adoption with the creation of a scientific culture — it treats them as distinct ideas. This statement therefore contradicts the passage's argument.

  • 🔴 Option C: The passage discusses astronomy's expansion beyond visible light but does not restrict microscopy to the visible spectrum. This claim goes beyond the passage rather than opposing it, so it does not contradict.

  • 🔴 Option D: The passage discusses Newton's work with reflecting telescopes in astronomy specifically. It does not claim that every one of Newton's discoveries required instruments. The discovery of gravity without instruments does not conflict with the passage's discussion.

4. Final Conclusion

Answer = Option B ✅

Option B misrepresents the passage's claim about mathematics adopting computational tools (instrumental embodiment) as mathematics only now developing a "scientific culture," directly contradicting the passage's distinction between instrumentation and scientific culture.

Question 2

All of the following statements may be rejected as valid inferences from the passage EXCEPT:

Solution

1. What the Question Asks

Another double-negative question: "All may be rejected EXCEPT" means we need to find the one statement that IS a valid inference from the passage. Three options contain errors or misreadings; one accurately reflects the passage's content.

2. Key Idea & Flow

The passage's central structure compares two sciences to illustrate different instrumental styles. As the author states, astronomy "remains largely a 'receptive' science, dependent upon instrumentation which can detect and receive emissions," while in biology, "instrumentation is far more interventional than in the astronomy case." This direct comparison forms the backbone of the passage's argument.

3. Elimination Approach

  • 🟡 Option A: This option creates a false distinction between "interventionist" and "embodied" instruments as if they are separate categories. The passage treats all scientific instruments as forms of embodiment — interventionist and receptive are styles of embodiment, not alternatives to it. This misreads the argument.

  • 🔴 Option B: This contains a factual error within the passage's timeline. It was Galileo, not Newton, who observed the phases of Venus and satellites of Jupiter. Newton came later with reflecting telescopes that improved resolution, but the specific discoveries listed belong to Galileo.

  • 🟢 Option C: This accurately captures the passage's structure. The author explicitly uses astronomy (receptive) and biology (interventional) as contrasting examples to distinguish between different instrumental styles. This is a valid inference.

  • 🔴 Option D: The "new astronomy" is defined in the passage as the twentieth-century expansion into the full electromagnetic spectrum, beginning with radio astronomy. Newton's reflecting telescopes remained within the optical/light spectrum and thus do not qualify as "new astronomy."

4. Final Conclusion

Answer = Option C ✅

The passage explicitly contrasts astronomy's receptive instrumentation with biology's interventional instrumentation, making Option C a direct and valid inference from the text.

Question 3

To which one of the following instruments would the characterisations of instruments in the passage be least applicable?

Solution

1. What the Question Asks

The question asks which item fits least with the passage's characterisation of instruments. The passage defines instruments as active, technology-based tools that mediate scientific practice — either by receiving/detecting information or by intervening in and manipulating phenomena.

2. Key Idea & Flow

The passage characterises instruments as tools that actively enable scientific work. As the author explains, astronomy uses instruments that "detect and receive emissions" (receptive), while biology uses instruments where "instrumentation is far more interventional." In both cases, instruments are active mediators that shape perception or enable manipulation.

3. Elimination Approach

  • 🟢 Option A: A milestone is a fixed, passive marker that indicates distance. It does not detect, receive, intervene, or require skilled manipulation. It is entirely static and does not mediate any active process. The passage's characterisations of instruments are least applicable to a milestone.

  • 🔴 Option B: A kitchen oven actively transforms materials through controlled heat application. It functions as an interventional tool that changes the state of its contents — fitting the passage's concept of instruments that intervene.

  • 🔴 Option C: A scalpel is a classic interventional instrument that acts directly on material (biological tissue). It requires skill and enables precise manipulation, aligning well with the passage's interventional category.

  • 🟡 Option D: A saxophone might seem unrelated to science, but it functions as an active instrument requiring skilled embodied interaction to produce output. It mediates between human intention and sound production, fitting the broader concept of an active, skill-dependent tool.

4. Final Conclusion

Answer = Option A ✅

A milestone is a completely passive, static marker with no active mediating function, making it the least compatible with the passage's characterisation of instruments as active tools that receive or intervene.

Question 4

Which one of the following observations is a valid conclusion to draw from the statement that "the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalised and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories"?

Solution

1. What the Question Asks

The question asks which option is a valid conclusion from the specific statement that sciences are "highly instrumentalised" and "could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories." We need the option that most faithfully preserves the meaning of this claim.

2. Key Idea & Flow

The quoted statement establishes a direct causal link: scientific progress depends on instrumental improvement. The passage frames this in the context of both astronomy and biology. As the author writes, "in both disciplines, the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalized and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories."

3. Elimination Approach

  • 🟡 Option A: This introduces the notion that instruments "must be respected," which is a value-based or normative claim. The passage makes a descriptive claim about dependence, not a prescriptive claim about respect. This subtly distorts the original meaning.

  • 🔴 Option B: This option is nearly incoherent — "the embodiment of progress in the trajectories of improvement" reverses and garbles the passage's argument. The passage says science is embodied in instruments, not that progress is embodied in trajectories. This is a meaningless restatement.

  • 🟢 Option C: This directly and accurately captures the passage's claim. Both astronomy and microbiology (biology) are discussed in the passage, and the statement concludes that progress in both fields has been a consequence of improvements in their respective instruments. This faithfully preserves the causal relationship.

  • 🔴 Option D: "Scientific constants" are fixed values in physics (like the speed of light). The passage never discusses improving constants — it discusses improving instruments. This introduces an entirely unrelated concept.

4. Final Conclusion

Answer = Option C ✅

Option C accurately reflects the passage's core claim that scientific progress in both astronomy and biology is directly driven by continuous improvements in their respective instruments.