Passage

Science by itself is not enough, there must be a force and discipline outside the sciences to coordinate them and point to a goal. It is not possible to run a course aright when the goal itself has not been rightly placed. What science needs is philosophy – the analysis of scientific method and the coordination of scientific purposes and results; without this, any science must be superficial. Government suffers, precisely like science, for lack of philosophy. Philosophy bears to science the same relationship which statesmanship bears to politics: movement guided by total knowledge and perspective, as against aimless and individual seeking. Just as the pursuit of knowledge becomes scholasticism when divorced from the actual needs of men and life, so the pursuit of politics becomes a destructive bedlam when divorced from science and philosophy.
QUESTION

CSAT

Easy

Comprehension

Prelims 2023

Which one of the following statements best reflects the most rational, logical and practical message conveyed by the passage?

Select an option to attempt

Explanation

Option A is incorrect: While the passage draws parallels between science/philosophy and politics/statesmanship, it does not prescribe direct training for every modern statesman in scientific methods and philosophy. That is an extrapolation.

Option B is correct: The passage emphasizes that science without philosophy becomes superficial, and politics without statesmanship becomes bedlam. This implies that governments should not be run solely by empirical/purely technical individuals; they must be tempered with learning, wisdom, and philosophical grounding. Thus, B captures the practical message about governance most rationally.

Option C is incorrect: The passage does not discuss societal education systems or early-age training explicitly.

Option D is incorrect: The passage mentions scientists benefiting from philosophy, but the main focus is on the need for guidance in governance, not prescribing that all scientists must be philosophers.

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