FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION-2024
FOR RECRUITMENT TO POSTS IN BS-17
UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
PHILOSOPHY
TIME ALLOWED: THREE HOURS
PART-I (MCQs) : MAXIMUM 30 MINUTES
(PART-I MCQs) MAXIMUM MARKS: 20
(PART-II) MAXIMUM MARKS: 80
NOTE: (i) First attempt PART-I (MCQs) on separate OMR Answer Sheet which shall be taken back
after 30 minutes.
(ii) Overwriting/cutting of the options/answers will not be given credit.
(iii) There is no negative marking. All MCQs must be attempted.
PART-I (MCQs)(COMPULSORY)
Q.1. (i) Select the best option/answer and fill in the appropriate Box on the OMR Answer Sheet.(20×1=20)
(ii) Answers given anywhere else, other than OMR Answer Sheet, will not be considered.
1. For Karl Marx, the benefits and burdens of society should be distributed according to the following principle:
(A) Every person should be given exactly equal shares of a society’s benefits and burdens (B) From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs (C) From each according to his abilities, to each according to his contributions (D) All of these
2. In John Locke’s ‘state of nature’,:
(A) People’s life, liberty and property are secure. (B) People’s life, liberty and property are distributed fairly. (C) People’s life, liberty and property are insecure. (D) None of these
3. The following best captures Kant’s Formula of Humanity as End in itself.
(A) “Act according to that rule that you want yourself to be treated by all” (B) “Act according to universal and rational principles that make humanity look better” (C) “Act only on principles that nature has given to us all” (D) “Act only on that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”
4. Jean-Francois Lyotard defines postmodern as “incredulity towards metanarratives”. Accordingly, one of the following is discredited.
(A) Reason distorts reality (B) History is contingent and dialectics mystify truth (C) Science is biased and socially conditioned. (D) History is progressive and knowledge can liberate humans.
5. Consciousness, according to Sartre, is:
(A) Nothing but innate ideas (B) Nothing but awareness of the external world (C) Nothingness (D) All of these
6. Kant objected to sex outside marriage, because:
(A) By doing so, a person will be ignoring divine law. (B) By doing so, a person would be treating other partner as a mere means, and not as an end in herself. (C) By doing so, a person would be treating herself as irrational (D) By doing so, person would be acting against the normative principles of society.
7. John Rawls’s difference principle is vividly encapsulated in the following:
(A) Everyone should be given equal opportunity to qualify for the privileged positions of society. (B) Society will incorporate inequalities by improving the position of the least advantages members of society. (C) Each citizen’s liberty will be protected from the invasion of others. (D) Society will minimize differences among its citizens like color, sex, etc.
8. “Explaining something in terms of others” is called:
(A) Holism (B) Solipsism (C) Reductionism (D) Skepticism
9. According to Nietzsche, truth lies:
(A) In the will of the nation (B) In the moral categories of good and evil (C) Beyond moral categories of good and evil (D) In the divine will
10. “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, _________ and _____________”.
(A) Pain and Pleasure (B) Happiness & Contentment (C) Consciousness & Inner feeling (D) True Happiness & Fair Judgment
11. Virtue theory replaces the question ‘How should I act?’ with:
(A) How should we live? (B) How should one live? (C) How should I die? (D) How should I live?
12. ‘It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied’ advocates:
(A) Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism (B) Peter Singer’s Utilitarianism (C) J. S. Mill’s Utilitarianism (D) Act Utilitarianism
13. For early Muatazilites, grave sinners are:
(A) Unknowable (B) Infidels (C) Muslims (D) Neither Muslim nor infidel
14. According to al Farabi, absolute certainty is the feature knowledge (ilm ) which means:
(A) Distinct and Clear (B) Necessary and universal (C) Objective and measurable (D) Simple and clear
15. Exegesis of the Quran must be left to the philosopher, says Averroes, because:
(A) They can check their interpretations of scripture against what they already know to be true on independent grounds (B) They can check their interpretations of scripture against what they have learned from their past religious experiences (C) They can check their interpretations of scripture against what they have inherited from past exegetes. (D) All of these
16. Thomas Hobbes states that ‘man’s life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’ in the state of nature. Accordingly:
(A) Human nature does not exist. (B) Human nature is neutral (C) Human nature is selfish (D) Human nature is good
17. ‘To be is to be perceived’ represents:
(A) Idealism (B) Phenomenalism (C) Transcendental Idealism (D) Subjective Idealism
18. Thomas Aquinas’ design argument is challenged by one of the followings:
(A) Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity (B) Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution (C) Thomas Kuhn’s theory of Paradigm shift (D) All of these
19. According to Karl Popper, ‘Conjectures’ are:
(A) Facts based on well-grounded observation (B) Well-calculated laws (C) Well-informed guesses (D) Both (A) & (B)
20. The following is the perception as a result of awareness of inner representations of external world.
(A) Common sense realism (B) Representative Realism (C) Critical realism (D) Causal realism
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PART-II
NOTE: (i) Part-II is to be attempted on the separate Answer Book.
(ii) Attempt ONLY FOUR questions from PART-II. ALL questions carry EQUAL marks.
(iii) All the parts (if any) of each Question must be attempted at one place instead of at different places.
(iv) Write Q. No. in the Answer Book in accordance with Q. No. in the Q.Paper.
(v) No Page/Space be left blank between the answers. All the blank pages of Answer Book must be crossed.
(vi) Extra attempt of any question or any part of the question will not be considered.
Q. No. 2. Outline al-Ghazali’s journey from al-kalam methods to philosophy and then to mysticism in the wider background of his recognition of limits of reason. (20)
Q. No. 3. Aristotle’s concept of ‘eudemonia’ is better than the modern consequential and deontological theories. Discuss it with reference to recent ethical challenges (20)
Q. No. 4. Expose the weaknesses of Rene Descartes’s cogito argument. Outline the influence of cogito on later modern philosophy. (20)
Q. No. 5. Critically analyze how is Michel Foucault’s ‘knowledge/power’ is different to common impression ‘knowledge is power’. (20)
Q. No. 6. “Bad faith is a permanent risk for consciousness”, says Sartre. Critically assess this statement in the wider thought of Sartre. (20)
Q. No. 7. “World history is the unfolding of the spirit in time”, says Hegel. Explain it in detail while contrasting with Kant’s philosophy. (20)
Q. No. 8. Write short notes on any two of the followings: (10 each) (20)
(a) ‘Ought’ implies ‘Can’ (b) Reason and revelation in Averroes (c) Limits of Rawls’ ‘difference principle’
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