CAT 2017 Slot 2 — VARC Question 26
Answer the following questions based on the information given below.
Despite their fierce reputation, Vikings may not have always been the plunderers and pillagers popular culture imagines them to be. In fact, they got their start trading in northern European markets, researchers suggest.
Combs carved from animal antlers, as well as comb manufacturing waste and raw antler material has turned up at three archaeological sites in Denmark, including a medieval marketplace in the city of Ribe. A team of researchers from Denmark and U.K.hoped to identify the species of animal to which the antlers once belonged by analyzing collagen proteins in the samples and comparing them across the animal kingdom, Laura Geggel reports for liveScience.
Somewhat surprisingly, molecular analysis of the artifacts revealed that some combs and other material had been carved from reindeer antlers…. Given that reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) don’t live in Denmark, the researchers posit that it arrived on Viking ships from Norway. Antler craftsmanship, in the form of decorative combs, was part of Viking culture. Such combs served as symbols of good health, Geggel writes. The fact that the animals shed their antlers also made them easy to collect from the large herds that inhabited Norway.
Since the artifacts were found in marketplace areas at each site it’s more likely that the Norsemen came to trade rather than pillage. Most of the artifacts also date to the 780s, but some are as old as 725. That predates the beginning of Viking raids on great Britain by about 70 years. (Traditionally, the so-called “Viking Age” began with these raids in 793 and ended with Norman conquest of Great Britain in 1066.) Archaeologists had suspected that the Viking had experience with ling maritime voyages [that] might have preceded their raiding days. Beyond Norway, these combs would have been a popular industry in Scandinavia as well. It’s possible that the antler comb’s represent a larger trade network, where the Norsemen supplied raw material to craftsmen in Denmark and elsewhere.
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Both Socrates and Bacon were very good at asking useful questions. In fact, Socrates is largely credited with coming up with a way of asking questions, ‘the Socratic method’, which itself is at the core of the ‘scientific method’, popularized by Bacon. The Socratic method disproves arguments by finding exceptions to them, and can therefore lead your opponent to a point where they admit something that contradicts their original position. In common with Socrates, Bacon stressed it was as important to disprove a theory as it was to prove one-and real-world observation and experimentation were key to achieving both aims Bacon also saw science as a collaborative affair, with scientists working together, challenging each other.
Answer & solution
- A
Both Socrates and Bacon advocated clever questioning of the opponents to disprove their argument and theories.
- B
Both Socrates and Bacon advocated challenging arguments and theories by observation and experimentation.
- C
Both Socrates and Bacon advocated confirming arguments and theories by finding exceptions.
Both Socrates and Bacon advocated examining arguments and theories from both sides to prove them.
The main points in the précis are:
- Socrates and Bacon were both skilled at asking the right questions
- The Socratic method helps disproves theories and is a cornerstone of what is known as the Scientific method
- Bacon used real-world observation and experimentation as key to disproving theories
- Option 1 is incorrect. Socrates and Bacon advocated the use of the right questions, not clever questions, to validate arguments. Eliminate option 1.
Option 2 is incorrect. Bacon thought it was as important to disprove an argument as it was to prove it and he advocated the use of observation and experiment, not Socrates. Eliminate option 2.
Option 3 is incorrect. Exceptions were used by Socrates to disprove arguments and not to confirm them. Eliminate option 3.
Option 4 is correct. Both Socrates and Bacon are credited, in the précis, with developing the right mode to questioning an argument so that invalid arguments could be disproved. Retain option 4.
Hence, the correct answer is option 4.