INSIGHTS MAINS TEST SERIES 2017 – TEST 14

MODEL ANSWERS

1. Are humans moral beings by nature? Justify.

Morality is the human attempt to define what is right and wrong about our actions and
thoughts. There are various principles around which morality is defined.
Consequentialists believe that the result matters and they focus on the ends to certify
morality of any action, on the other hand deontologist focus on the action itself rather
than the outcomes. It is very complex and philosophers over the history are trying to
define morality and are trying to find if morality is ingrained in human nature.

Evolutionary biologists believe that the humans are moral beings by nature because their
biological constitution determines the presence of the three necessary conditions for
ethical behaviour in them. These conditions are
a) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s own actions
b) the ability to make value judgments
c) The ability to choose between alternative courses of action.
These abilities exist as a consequence of the eminent intellectual capacity of human
beings.

Some psychologists have claimed that human babies are born as moral blank slates and
that their culture gives them all of their moral direction. Since cultures vary in significant
ways, so, moral values vary greatly from culture to culture.

While recent research suggests that difference between good and bad may be hardwired
into the brain at birth. Experiments suggest that the six-year-old child develops a sense of
moral code and can tell the difference between good and evil.

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Many religious teachings believe that God is a moral being, and that he implanted his
moral nature within humankind. This moral nature was corrupted, but it still resides
within us in a perverted state.

This had always been a debate among the philosophers and scientists whether human
beings are inherently moral or not. But, if there would have been no common morality
among human beings some cultures would have celebrated rapes and killings of
innocents. It is because of inherently moral nature of man that the fundamental values
like love, compassion etc. are considered moral across all cultures.

2. Why is utilitarianism called a consequentialist moral doctrine? Illustrate with an

example.

Consequentialism is based on two principles:

- Whether an act is right or wrong depends on the results of that act.
- The more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right that act is.
It says that a person should choose the action that maximises good consequences and
gives this general guidance on how to live. People should live so as to maximise good
consequences.
Forms of Consequentialism
§ Utilitarianism: It holds that an action is right if it leads to the most happiness for the
greatest number of people.
§ Hedonism: It says that the pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind, and
that individuals should strive to maximise their own total pleasure.
§ Egoism: It holds that an action is right if it maximizes good for the self. Thus,
Egoism may license actions which are good for an individual even if detrimental to
the general welfare.
§ Altruism: It prescribes that an individual take action that has the best consequences
for everyone except for himself.

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Utilitarianism as a consequentialist moral doctrine
Utilitarianism maintains that the morality of an action is determined solely through an
assessment of its consequences. Utilitarianism demands that we consider the impact of
the consequences on everyone affected by the matter under consideration. The morally
right action, the one we ought to perform, is the one that produces the greatest overall
positive consequences for everyone. Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to
make life better by increasing the amount of good things (such as pleasure and happiness)
in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness).
Pleasure, happiness, and preference satisfaction are the three most common candidates
for the definition of utility.

Example:
During World War II, a number of American factory and dock workers handled
large quantities of asbestos, which was needed for the war effort. In the 1970s,
Americans became increasingly aware of the carcinogenic effects of asbestos. It was
being widely used throughout the United States for insulation and brake linings and pads.
It was difficult and costly to remove. One of the questions US faced was precisely what
to do about this problem.

Utilitarian Approach: When we look at the consequences, we add up the potential costs
and benefits of the various courses of action in various types of situations.
- Requiring the removal of asbestos from elementary schools was an easy decision,
no matter what is the cost of removal the potential damage was so great that few
would disagree with regulations requiring its removal from schools as children
who are exposed to asbestos may suffer from cancer during their adulthood.
- Decision about removal from residential areas is difficult. The work involved in
removing asbestos from all those residences would be considerably more than the
work required for the schools. A utilitarian might decide to leave this decision in
each individual’s hands as some may wish to remove while others don’t , given
the removal cost is expensive. Likewise, Utilitarian must analyse the
consequences of each stakeholder before action.

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3. Differentiate between pleasure and happiness? Should humans aspire for
pleasure or happiness? Justify.

Pleasure: According to psychologists, Pleasure is the enjoyable feeling we experience

when a state of deprivation is replaced by a state of satiation or fulfilment.
Happiness: According to psychologists, happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-
being which can be defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to
intense joy.
Differences
§ The primary difference between the two attributes is that pleasure is external and
happiness is internal. Pleasure is event dependent, while happiness is a state of
mind.
§ Pleasure is primarily bodily or sensual in character. E.g. eating, drinking, and
having sex induce pleasure. Happiness, on the other hand, is usually less
immediately tied down to the body. We may characterize it as belonging more to
the mind or spirit than to the body.
§ Pleasure generally seems to be of shorter duration than happiness. This stems from
the nature of pleasure itself. Happiness, on the other hand, seems to lie in the
realization of certain goals, hopes, or plans for one’s life.
§ Happiness may encompass both pleasure and pain. For e.g. woman giving birth to
the child. She may experience quite a bit of pain during and after the delivery, but
she may still feel happy. On the other hand, it is possible that someone is
experiencing pleasure but not feeling happy. For e.g. a person who is a drug addict
may derive pleasure from drugs but he/she is not happy with his/her life.

Humans should aspire for happiness rather than pleasure:

The pursuit of pleasure involves feeling good in the short-term, and if overdone,
creates a risk of negative long-term outcomes; the pursuit of happiness consists of
intentional activities and habits that promote long term health and well-being. It is
important for humans to not chase pleasures blindly as they are short lived. It may

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 not bring contentment in life and often person may end up taking wrong decisions
and later regret their decisions.
For e.g. People who indulge in adultery, may derive short term pleasures, but,
they break the trust and ruin the relationship with the partner and often regret their
actions later. This could also create issues in the family and ruin the environment
for children too.

Leo Tolstoy said “happiness is pleasure without repentance”.

4. “Ambedkar's philosophy is primarily ethical and religious.” Discuss.

Social morality is central to Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy. He thoroughly explored the

Indian traditions and its philosophical systems in a unique way. He developed political
concepts like democracy, justice, state and rights from his understanding of Indian
society on the moral grounds. Ambedkar's philosophy is essentially ethical and religious.

Religious angle of Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy:

He was very much critical about the Hindu social order and disqualifies Hinduism as a
community. He is very critical of the institution of caste, which influences all the spheres
of individual's life and the Indian society as a whole.He does not confirm to either Hindu
ideal community or Marxist conception of community based on participation in
production process. His conception of community is moral and ethical. Buddhism was
projected as the ideal having the value of community as it grounds on morality.

Ethical angle of Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy:

For him, Society is always composed of classes. An individual in a society is always a
member of a class. He examined the moral and social foundations of India and gave new
meaning to the lives of disadvantaged people. His political theory was premised on a
moral community. It was as an ideal to be realised.

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He also believed that political democracy cannot succeed where there is no social and
economic democracy. He put more emphasis on the moral society and its customs than
the written legal law in governing its people. He heavily invested on social morality for
effective functioning of the democratic form of government

Ambedkar was influenced by all the major political traditions i.e. liberal,
conservative and radical. The unique feature about him is that he has transcended all
these traditions.

[Suggestion: Dear candidates, learning various aspects Dr. Ambedkar’s view and thoughts can be
used in GS Paper-1,2,4 as well as essay. He was political philosopher as well as political leader.
Read well about him.]

5. Differentiate between influence and persuasion. Illustrate which of these two is

important for a leader.
Both influence and persuasion have the common objective of making a change in
a person’s behaviour or attitude. However, there are underlying differences in influence
and persuasion.

Persuasion
It can be understood as a method of changing someone’s behaviour. Persuasion is usually
a deliberate attempt where the persuader wishes to alter the course of action of the
individual through communication.

Influence
Influence is different from persuasion. Whenever there is a change in a person’s thoughts,
feelings or behaviour because of another person’s personality, then influence is said to
have taken place.

Differences

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 - Though both seek to create a change in behaviour and attitudes, their methods are
different.
- Influence comes from a trait that someone possesses while Persuasion happens
because of an action that one takes.
- Persuasion requires one to communicate while influence works silently without
having to make any effort and the followers are motivated to do what the leader
wants.
- Influence is long term while Persuasion is short term.
- Influence is based upon trust and credibility, which are lacking in persuasion

Persuasion and Influence are related to each other. If someone influences the people it
makes him/her more persuasive; the more persuasive he/she is, it allows him/her to build
influence.

It is important for any leader to acquire both of these skills to inspire or motivate
followers to do some action.
Persuasion is more of an “in the moment” skill. It’s the combination of charisma,
talent, and technique that can get things done. It is important for leader to have persuasive
skills as influence takes longer time. However, Influence lasts for longer time and
establishes trust and credibility and it is preferred by most leaders. If persuasive
techniques are used, the leader is often seen as a manipulator and any compliance on the
part of the team members or employees is temporary.
For e.g. it is possible to sell combs to bald men through persuasive techniques.
However, they will feel cheated when they realize that combs are of no use to them and
have bought something which they do not want. Suddenly, all the trust for a person who
persuaded is gone. In contrast, attitude and behavioural change that results because of
influence is longer and has better results. In the presence of trust, both influence and
persuasion work satisfactorily.

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6. Compare and contrast values and attitudes. Examine which factors decide
political attitude of an individual.

The responses we give to people, objects, events, and actions are collectively referred to
as our attitudes. While, the beliefs we develop concerning issues, concepts, people and
things as a result of all the cultural and religious influences are referred to as our values.
Some of the common values are honesty, integrity, love, compassion, fairness, justice,
liberty, freedom. Value is considered to be a basic belief that often influences a specific
attitude together with other beliefs. The cognitive component of attitudes is similar to
values as both involve beliefs. Manifestation of values is seen in the shape of our
attitudes

Differences
- Values are belief systems that guide our behaviour. They decide what we think as
right, wrong, good, or unjust. While, Attitudes are our likes and dislikes towards
things, people and objects. Attitudes are responses that are a result of our values
- Values are more or less permanent while attitudes are a result of our experiences
and do change with favourable experiences.

Political Attitude
Political values and political attitudes include orientations such as economic left-right and
religious/secular values, materialist/post-materialist values, libertarian/authoritarian
values, ecology versus economic growth, and immigration orientations.
There are many factors which shape our political attitude. Some of them are given
below:
a) Family: Families are generally the first, and often the most enduring, influence on
young people's developing political opinions.
b) Gender: Generally women tend to be liberal as they want equal rights, equal pay,
more opportunities etc.

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 c) Religion: The “religious right” tends to be more conservative. This tendency is
more clearly associated with social issues such as gay rights, cow protection, etc.
than with economic issues or foreign affairs.
d) Education: Education has a significant effect on political attitudes. The person
who may be grown up in family which votes for conservative family may change
his/her attitude in the future due to education.
e) Economic pressures: It is believed that economic pressures are the primary
motivation for choosing a particular political position. People who are doing well
in society usually do not want change.
f) Age: Age is often a significant factor. Usually, the young are more likely to be
liberal than the elderly. This is probably because the older generations have a
vested interest in the status quo that the younger generations have not yet acquired
g) Psychological factor: Some people are also more psychologically suited for
liberalism or conservatism than others.
h) Role of Media: Media also plays an important role in shaping political attitudes of
people through advertisements, debates etc.

7. Discuss Mahatma Gandhi’s views on and attitude towards war.

Mahatma Gandhi was the messenger of non –violence to the world. He through his
methods like Satyagraha has shown the importance of non-violence. Through Satyagraha
he tried to change the heart of opponent without resorting to violence but rather through
self-suffering. Throughout his life, he wrote extensively about war and was inspired by
many writers like Leo Tolstoy which helped in shaping his attitude towards war.
§ Gandhi contemplated war as an irreducible evil. It is unethical and loathsome due
to its refutation of the principles of truth and non-violence. Gandhi was against all
kinds of offence, either supported by military force or else. In Gandhi’s opinion
war demoralizes those who are trained for it. It brutalizes men of naturally gentle
nature. The outcome of war is nothing but mere evil because that which is won by
the sword is ironically lost by the sword.

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 § According to Gandhi, war produces factors of imbalance for democracy. War has
various and divergent issues. Overall, Gandhi considered racialism, imperialism
and fascism as fundamental factors of war during his times. He considered
communism also as an offence to world peace and harmony. Economic inequality
and exploitation are additional causes of war and instability in the international
system.
§ Views on post-independence: He said that if India attains freedom by non-violent
means, she would never go to war more. If, however, free India would go to war,
he hoped that, he would gather strength to rise up against his government and to
stand in the way of violent resistance.
Gandhi himself had participated in the war on three different occasions. He was the
member of Red Cross once during the war. However, later he criticized Red Cross by
saying that Red Cross should cease to recognize and tolerate the crime of war. Instead of
preparing to do good work during the bloody combat, it must do everything to abolish
war.

However, when choosing between cowardice and violence he said that, “I do believe that,
where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence”.
He believed that nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence; forgiveness is manlier
than punishment. According to him, People must become conscious of the extraordinary
moral forces at their disposal. Each participant in non-violent resistance should undergo
an internal regeneration. He said that Satyagraha is not same as making peace. It is still a
fight that has to be fought as bravely as a soldier in a war - just the weapon is different.

8. Nelson Mandela was regarded as one of the finest world leaders in a post - World
War world. Examine what traits made him most admired leader in the world.

Nelson Mandela has played an important role to bring an end to apartheid and had
been a global advocate for human rights. He was a leader of both peaceful protests and
armed resistance against the white minority’s oppressive regime in a racially divided

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South Africa. He later became the first black president of South Africa. There are many
traits which makes Nelson Mandela one of the most admired leaders of 20th century.

a) Principled Diplomacy: It was a way of being for Nelson Mandela. His treatment
of those who imprisoned him during his productive period of life defied
everything about human nature. He believed that diversity need not divide. If
pluralism is rightly understood and rightly practiced, it is an advantage and not a
burden.
b) Embracing Sacrifice –Nelson Mandela endured danger and time in prison in
order to achieve freedom for his country.
c) Model of soft power: We can learn from Mandela’s life story that while hard
power can be used to inflict or prevent pain, But, it is soft power that is most
likely to develop attraction and influence that will last for longer period of time.
d) Reconciler: He believed that most conflicts can be settled by brains rather than
blood. He saw reconciliation as the most important value in a world that is
integrating and fragmenting at the same time. He promoted peaceful co-existence
in international affairs as well as in domestic affairs through reconciliation.
e) Multilateralism: His leadership style was honed with its emphasis on cooperative
and consultative leadership. This should also be reflected in various international
organisations such as UNSC, IMF etc. to resolve various conflicts as world is now
becoming more multipolar.
f) Economic Diplomacy: His government sought to ensure that economic growth
contributed to the empowerment of the economically marginalized and not only
the small minority who continued to control most of the nation’s wealth.
g) Moral Leader: Even though, South Africa was a developing country and know
the importance of developed nations towards developing its economy, Nelson
Mandela did not hesitate to take an opposing stand on issues where he felt morally
bound to speak out.

It is due to above mentioned traits, he became one of the most admired leaders in the
world.

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9. It is observed that large proportion of students seem to harbour attitudes and
beliefs about crucial areas of social and personal life that show a bias and ignorance.
What kind of value education would help them overcome prejudices and ignorance?
Discuss.

According to The Quality Education Study (QES) conducted in India’s top schools found
that our curricula are less than effective in value education. Students seem to harbour bias
and prejudice about their personal and social life. For example, nearly 43% of students in
classes 4, 6 and 8 felt that education for a girl is less important than for boys. It is in
contrast with the positive values enshrined in our Constitution.

Reasons for such bias and ignorance:

- Schools focus exclusively on academics and examinations, and less on values and
attitudes of the students
- Schools depend more on rote learning and less on understanding.
- Fundamental weakness of ideas about learning as academic learning is closely
associated with nurturing of values and sensitivity to others.

Possible changes required are:

§ Learning about values is not a matter of teaching only the good values. It is also
about helping students explore and understand the consequences of holding
particular values. Discovering the consequences of bias and prejudice must be
part of our curriculum.
§ Critical thinking, empathy and dialogue are key aspects of such a learning
process. Our schools and teachers need to encourage the students to question the
conventional and to discover the meaning of the personal and civic values that
promote well-being. Curriculum could also be designed in such a way that the
student who questions and experiment would be graded higher than others.
§ Other solutions:

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 - School's policy should be framed on moral and social value.
- Teachers should be oriented towards value education.
- Integrating value education into every aspect of regular school activities.
- Schools should reassure that value education is the core of a school's success and
is an essential component of internal criteria of school effectiveness.

Developing scientific temper as enshrined in our constitution should not be limited to

books but also need to be applied in social and personal spheres. Students of science are
supposed to question everything in life be it time and space or religion and caste.

10. In your opinion, what qualities make a great teacher? Write a note on
philosophy of your favourite teacher.
A teacher is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values.
Teachers can make a large and positive difference to how well children do at school.
Being a teacher is much more than just executing lesson plans. In today's world a
teacher's role is a multifaceted profession. They carry the role of a parent, class
disciplinarian, mentor, counsellor, book keeper, role model, planner and many more.

Quality of Great teachers

Apart from credentials, knowledge, critical thinking, and all other faculties of
intelligence, there are many other qualities which make a teacher great.
- Passion: The best teachers are passionate people. They love what they teach, they
love being a teacher, and they love the challenge of helping each of their students
learn.
- Great teachers expect all of their students to work hard and to learn.
- Ability: All other things being equal, smart people make the best teachers.
- Great teacher is compassionate, emphatic, positive and a builder.
- Conscientiousness: Great teachers work hard. They are responsible, determined
and persistent.
- Great teachers want to help every one of their students to succeed. They embrace
the situation as a challenge to be met or a problem to be solved.

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 - They are willing to put in the necessary time.
- Great teachers develop and hone their own classroom management style.
- Great teachers use a variety of instructional methods within the same school.

Philosophy of my teacher (An illustration)

My mathematics teacher in school was an excellent example of right aptitude as well as

right attitude. He taught the subject in hand as well as the right approach towards life. He
believed that a person is incomplete if he/she is only skilled but hollow in values. He
used to incorporate the examples and concepts from other subject as well to make the
holistic understanding. I learnt from him how the poetry shapes the thinking ability and
approach. He brought the two extreme disciplines mathematics and literature in the centre
point of his teaching. He creates multi-dimensional personalities in his class.

[Instruction: In such question, give your own example from your real life. Originality is reflected
in writing and is appreciated by examiner.]

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