CAT 2021 Slot 2 · VARC · RC passage 3: Truth, Fiction and Power

The full passage and all 4 questions (Q17–Q20) from CAT 2021 Slot 2, with answers and solutions.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

Many people believe that truth conveys power. . . . Hence sticking with the truth is the best strategy for gaining power. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth. In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power means two very different things.

On the one hand, power means having the ability to manipulate objective realities: to hunt animals, to construct bridges, to cure diseases, to build atom bombs. This kind of power is closely tied to truth. If you believe a false physical theory, you won’t be able to build an atom bomb. On the other hand, power also means having the ability to manipulate human beliefs, thereby getting lots of people to cooperate effectively. Building atom bombs requires not just a good understanding of physics, but also the coordinated labor of millions of humans. Planet Earth was conquered by Homo sapiens rather than by chimpanzees or elephants, because we are the only mammals that can cooperate in very large numbers. And large-scale cooperation depends on believing common stories. But these stories need not be true. You can unite millions of people by making them believe in completely fictional stories about God, about race or about economics. The dual nature of power and truth results in the curious fact that we humans know many more truths than any other animal, but we also believe in much more nonsense. . . .

When it comes to uniting people around a common story, fiction actually enjoys three inherent advantages over the truth. First, whereas the truth is universal, fictions tend to be local. Consequently if we want to distinguish our tribe from foreigners, a fictional story will serve as a far better identity marker than a true story. . . . The second huge advantage of fiction over truth has to do with the handicap principle, which says that reliable signals must be costly to the signaler. Otherwise, they can easily be faked by cheaters. . . . If political loyalty is signaled by believing a true story, anyone can fake it. But believing ridiculous and outlandish stories exacts greater cost, and is therefore a better signal of loyalty. . . . Third, and most important, the truth is often painful and disturbing. Hence if you stick to unalloyed reality, few people will follow you. An American presidential candidate who tells the American public the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about American history has a 100 percent guarantee of losing the elections. . . . An uncompromising adherence to the truth is an admirable spiritual practice, but it is not a winning political strategy. . . .

Even if we need to pay some price for deactivating our rational faculties, the advantages of increased social cohesion are often so big that fictional stories routinely triumph over the truth in human history. Scholars have known this for thousands of years, which is why scholars often had to decide whether they served the truth or social harmony. Should they aim to unite people by making sure everyone believes in the same fiction, or should they let people know the truth even at the price of disunity?

Question 17 · RC Main Idea and Central Theme

The central theme of the passage is about the choice between:

  1. A

    stories that unite people and those that distinguish groups from each other.

  2. B

    attaining social cohesion and propagating objective truth.

  3. C

    leaders who unknowingly spread fictions and those who intentionally do so.

  4. D

    truth and power.

Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option B

The passage explains that large-scale cooperation depends on common stories, that fiction unites people better than truth, and it ends with the dilemma: should scholars 'unite people by making sure everyone believes in the same fiction, or . . . let people know the truth even at the price of disunity?'

So the choice is between social cohesion (unity through shared fictions) and spreading objective truth – option 2.

Option 1 picks one advantage of fiction (marking identity) and is too narrow.

Option 3 – knowing versus unknowing leaders – is never discussed.

Option 4 is the topic, but not the choice. The author says truth and power have a 'complicated relationship'; the choice actually posed is between truth and social harmony.

Shortcut: the closing question of the passage states the choice in so many words.

Hence, the answer is option 2.

Question 18 · Argument & viewpoint

The author would support none of the following statements about political power EXCEPT that:
  1. A
    there are definite advantages to promoting fiction, but there needs to be some limit to a pervasive belief in myths.
  2. B
    while unalloyed truth is not recommended, leaders should stay as close as possible to it.
  3. C
    manipulating people’s beliefs is politically advantageous, but a leader who propagates only myths is likely to lose power.
  4. D
    people cannot handle the unvarnished truth, so leaders retain power by deviating from it.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option D

The author would support only one statement.

Option 4 fits the passage. 'The truth is often painful and disturbing. Hence if you stick to unalloyed reality, few people will follow you.' Uncompromising truth 'is not a winning political strategy'. So leaders keep power by departing from the truth.

Option 1: the author never says there must be a limit to belief in myths.

Option 2: the author does not advise staying 'as close as possible' to the truth.

Option 3: the author never says that leaders who spread only myths will lose power; fiction 'routinely' triumphs.

Shortcut: 'none EXCEPT' means find the one statement the author agrees with. Rule out options that add advice or limits the author never gives.

Hence, the answer is option 4.

Question 19 · RC Inference Questions

The author implies that, like scholars, successful leaders:
  1. A
    today know how to create social cohesion better than in the past.
  2. B
    use myths to attain the first type of power.
  3. C
    know how to balance truth and social unity.
  4. D
    need to leverage both types of power to remain in office.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

Scholars, the author says, 'often had to decide whether they served the truth or social harmony'. Both powers matter: the first (manipulating objective reality) needs truth, the second (uniting people) often needs fiction.

A successful leader, like a scholar, must therefore know how to balance truth with social unity – option 3.

Option 1: no comparison between leaders of today and the past.

Option 2: myths give the second type of power (over beliefs), not the first (over objective realities).

Option 4: staying 'in office' and needing both powers is not what the comparison with scholars implies; the comparison is about the truth-versus-harmony choice.

Shortcut: 'like scholars' points to the only thing the passage says scholars do – choose between truth and social harmony.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

Question 20 · Critical Reasoning

Regarding which one of the following quotes could we argue that the author overemphasises the importance of fiction?
  1. A
    “. . . scholars often had to decide whether they served the truth or social harmony. Should they aim to unite people by making sure everyone believes in the same fiction, or should they let people know the truth . . .?”
  2. B
    “On the one hand, power means having the ability to manipulate objective realities: to hunt animals, to construct bridges, to cure diseases, to build atom bombs.”
  3. C
    “Hence sticking with the truth is the best strategy for gaining power. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth.”
  4. D
    “In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power means two very different things.”
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option A

We need the quote where the author can be accused of giving fiction too much weight.

Option 1: the author says scholars 'often had to decide' between truth and social harmony – as if uniting people through fiction were the only alternative to truth. This presents fiction as the main tool for social harmony and ignores other ways of uniting people. It is the clearest case of overemphasis.

Option 2 is about the first kind of power, which the author ties to truth – it does not stress fiction at all.

Option 3 calls the idea that truth brings power a 'comforting myth', but this is a claim about truth, which the author then qualifies.

Option 4 says only that the relationship is complicated – a balanced statement.

Shortcut: look for the quote that sets up fiction as the main or only way to unity. That is where fiction is overemphasised.

Hence, the answer is option 1.

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