Read the passage and answer the question given below: To deal with issues of…
2023
Read the passage and answer the question given below:
To deal with issues of democracy and authoritarian rule we have to pay particular attention to both the context of what can be called development and the interpretation of democracy, in particular to the respective roles of voting and public reasoning. The assessment of development cannot be divorced from the lives that people can lead and the real freedom that they enjoy. Development can scarcely be seen merely in terms of enhancement of inanimate objects of convenience, such as a rise in GNP or in personal incomes, or industrialization, important as they may be, as means to the real ends. Their value must depend upon what they do to the lives and freedom of the people involved, which must be central to the idea of development. If development is understood in a broader way with a focus on human lives, then it becomes immediately clear that the relation between development and democracy has to be seen partly in terms of their constitutive connection, rather than only through their external links. Even though the question has often been asked whether political freedom is 'conducive to development', we must not miss the crucial recognition that political liberties and democratic rights are among the constituent components of development. Their relevance for development does not have to be established indirectly through their contribution to the growth of GNP. However, after acknowledging this central connection, we also have to subject democracy to consequential analysis since there are other kinds of freedoms as well, other than political liberties and civil rights, to which attention must be paid. We must be concerned, for example, with economic poverty.
Development should be comprehensively measured in terms of
Answer: D. the freedom of the people involved — ConceptIn a passage-completion question, identify the author's controlling idea and the relationship between examples and the main claim. A measure is…
- A.
increase in inanimate objects
- B.
rise in personal incomes
- C.
industrialisation
- D.
the freedom of the people involved
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
In a passage-completion question, identify the author's controlling idea and the relationship between examples and the main claim. A measure is comprehensive only when it captures the end the author values, not merely the means used to reach it.
Application
The passage distinguishes material indicators and processes from the real ends of development. It repeatedly places the lives people can lead and the real freedom they enjoy at the centre of development.
Contrast
Increase in inanimate objects is presented as an enhancement of material convenience, not as the complete human-centred measure.
Rise in personal incomes is listed with GNP as an economic indicator whose value depends on what it does for people's lives.
Industrialisation is described as important as a means to real ends, so it is not itself the comprehensive end.
The freedom of the people involved directly expresses the passage's human-centred standard of development.
Cross-check
Substituting the phrase into the unfinished final sentence also preserves the passage's repeated contrast between material means and human ends. Therefore, development should be comprehensively measured in terms of the freedom of the people involved.