UPSC Prelims 2022 · CSAT
Question 32: Reading Comprehension
The passage suggests that Darwinian theory of evolution is not a theory at all because
AnswerUPSC’s answer is (b).
The passage argues that Darwin's account of extinction is easy to follow and persuasive: organisms die out when environmental or biological attacks meet an inheritance that leaves them unprepared. It then concludes that evolution is a fact, and that the mechanism Darwin proposed is well supported by scientific data, so the label 'theory' hardly applies. UPSC's key picks the reason given just before that conclusion: extinction as a function of environmental and biological assaults.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) Wrong: the passage criticises creationist doctrines but does not base its conclusion on satisfying them.
- (b) Correct: the conclusion follows the account of extinction as caused by environmental and biological assaults.
- (c) Close, but not what the key accepts: the absence of refuting evidence is a later support, not the stated reason.
- (d) Wrong: attributing life to a creator is the creationist view the passage rejects.
Worth knowing: Option (c) is also defensible, since the passage later says no evidence has refuted the main Darwinian ideas; UPSC's key follows the reasoning placed just before the conclusion.
Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2022, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.