CAT 2021 Slot 2 · VARC · Question 1
CAT 2021 Slot 2 previous year question on Odd One Out, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.
Five jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out and key in the number of the sentence as your answer:
1. The care with which philosophers examine arguments for and against forms of biotechnology makes this an excellent primer on formulating and assessing moral arguments.
2. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why: what is wrong with re-engineering our nature?
3. Breakthroughs in genetics present us with the promise that we will soon be able to prevent a host of debilitating diseases, and the predicament that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to enhance our genetic traits.
4. To grapple with the ethics of enhancement, we need to confront questions that verge on theology, which is why modern philosophers and political theorists tend to shrink from them.
5. One argument is that the drive for human perfection through genetics is objectionable as it represents a bid for mastery that fails to appreciate the gifts of human powers and achievements.
Answer & solution
Answer: 1
Four sentences discuss the ethics of genetic engineering:
Sentence 3 sets out the promise and the predicament of genetic breakthroughs.
Sentence 2 notes that genetic engineering feels disquieting, but it is hard to say why.
Sentence 4 says the ethics of enhancement raise near-theological questions that philosophers shrink from.
Sentence 5 gives one argument against the drive for perfection through genetics.
The order 3-2-4-5 reads as one argument.
Sentence 1 speaks of 'this' as 'an excellent primer' – it is a remark recommending a book, not part of the argument. It also refers to philosophers examining arguments carefully, which clashes with sentence 4's point that philosophers shrink from these questions.
Shortcut: a sentence in the voice of a book review ('this . . . primer') among sentences that build an argument is usually the odd one out.
Hence, the answer is 1.
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