Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow.…
2020
Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow.
The representative dimension of the new liberal political orders designed to protect individual rights, appeared as the best mechanism for actualizing popular rule or sovereignty - indeed democracy. As a result, it is more beneficial to assess the meaning and value of 'rights' as historical and political practices, rather than conceptual forms (especially as counterparts to 'virtue'). In this respect, the discourse of rights reflected a new official mode of combining ethics and power for political conduct. But the formally equal treatment of citizens belied a relatively arbitrary element, for the involvement of the citizenry in shaping the conduct of their representatives was left to influence elite procedures, qualifications and voluntary participation. Still, representation became the mythical means of transposing the authorizing power of the people to the new authorities of government. After all, representatives had more time and money to perfect their virtue and skill in conducting their work and were not supposed to be corrupted by the power that attended their offices. They were supposed to be better guardians and agents of public virtue than ordinary citizens as representation became institutionalized in the new states. The state wielded power over the people, diversifying rather than restricting the problems of demagoguery in ancient democracy that modern republics were supposed to correct.
Ques: What will be the more beneficial assessment of democracy?
- A.
Considering rights as a political practice
- B.
Avoiding historical meanings of the concept
- C.
Emphasizing on virtues
- D.
Examining the conceptual forms of democracy
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: In a reading-comprehension item that asks what the passage finds "more beneficial" or explicitly recommends, the correct option must restate -- by value -- the passage's own stated preference. It cannot be a plausible-sounding idea the passage never asserts, nor the very alternative the passage sets aside.
Application: The passage states directly: "it is more beneficial to assess the meaning and value of 'rights' as historical and political practices, rather than conceptual forms (especially as counterparts to 'virtue')." This sentence is the passage's own answer to the question -- it recommends treating rights as a political (and historical) practice, not as an abstract concept or a matter of virtue.
Cross-check -- why each other option fails the passage's own criterion:
"Avoiding historical meanings of the concept" reverses the passage: it recommends assessing rights AS historical practice, not avoiding historical meaning.
"Emphasizing on virtues" is exactly the framing the passage moves away from -- it calls conceptual forms the counterpart to virtue, and prefers practice over that framing.
"Examining the conceptual forms of democracy" is the explicitly rejected alternative -- the passage says "rather than conceptual forms."
So the passage's own stated criterion -- treating rights as a political practice, grounded in history rather than abstract or virtue-based conceptual forms -- is what the question is asking for.