Read the passage and answer the question given below: Alternatives are not…
2023
Read the passage and answer the question given below:
Alternatives are not lacking in the world. What is indeed missing is an alternative thinking of alternatives. Whenever it is said that there are very interesting things happening in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the Western answer is that developed countries do not have the same problems. As such, the West does not need their kinds of solutions. There are two inferences from this: First, the understanding of the world is much broader than the Western understanding of the world. This means that the progressive transformation of the world may also occur in ways not foreseen by Western thinking. It includes critical Western thinking. Second, the diversity of the world is infinite. It is a diversity that encompasses very distinct modes of being, thinking and feeling; ways of conceiving of time and the relations among human beings and between humans and non-humans; ways of facing the past and the future and of collectively organizing life, the production of goods and services, as well as leisure. This immensity of alternatives of life, comforts and interaction with the world is largely wasted because the theories and concepts developed in the global North and employed in the entire academic world do not identify such alternatives. When they do, they do not valorize them as being valid contributions towards constructing a better society. The knowledge of the South is dubbed as outmoded and considered as no knowledge at all.
The Western theories and concepts
Answer: A. reject the alternative knowledge. — ConceptIn reading comprehension, an option must be matched to the passage’s explicit claim rather than to outside assumptions. Negation and contrast words…
- A.
reject the alternative knowledge.
- B.
valorize the knowledge of the South.
- C.
support the creation of a single-knowledge world.
- D.
identify the immensity of alternative ways of life and interaction.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
In reading comprehension, an option must be matched to the passage’s explicit claim rather than to outside assumptions. Negation and contrast words reveal the author’s stance.
Phrases such as ‘do not identify,’ ‘do not valorize,’ and ‘no knowledge at all’ describe how a body of thought treats alternative knowledge.
Application
The passage says theories developed in the global North largely fail to identify the world’s alternative ways of life.
Even when they notice those alternatives, they do not value them as valid contributions.
Knowledge from the South is labeled outmoded and treated as no knowledge at all.
Contrast
‘Valorize the knowledge of the South’ conflicts with the statement that such knowledge is not valued as a valid contribution.
‘Support the creation of a single-knowledge world’ conflicts with the passage’s emphasis on infinite diversity.
‘Identify the immensity of alternative ways of life and interaction’ is directly opposed by the statement that global-North theories do not identify such alternatives.
Cross-check
Calling Southern knowledge outmoded and treating it as no knowledge at all amounts to rejecting its validity.
Result
The Western theories and concepts reject alternative knowledge.