Comprehension
The modern animal rights movement, which originated in the 1970s, may be understood as a reaction to dominant emphases within science and religion (principally, though not exclusively, Christianity). When the Jesuit Joseph Rickaby wrote in 1888 that "Brute beasts, not having understanding and therefore not being persons, cannot have any rights" and that we have "no duties of charity or duties of any kind to the lower animals as neither to stocks and stones", he was only articulating, albeit in an extreme form, the moral insensitivity that has characterized the Western view of animals.
That insensitivity is the result of an amalgam of influences. The first, and for many years the most dominant, was the "other worldly" or "world denying" tendency in Christianity, which has, at its worst, denigrated the value of earthly things in comparison with things spiritual. Traditional Catholicism has divided the world into those beings that possess reason and therefore immortal souls, and those that do not. Christian spirituality has not consciously been at home with the world of non-human creatures-either animal or vegetable. Classic accounts of eternal life as found in Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, or John Calvin make little or no reference to the world of animals. Animals, it seems, are merely transient or peripheral beings in an otherwise wholly human-centric economy of salvation.
The second idea-common to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-is that animals, along with vegetables and minerals, exist instrumentally in relation to human beings; they are made for human beings, even belong to human beings, as resources in creation. This idea predates Christianity and is found notably in Aristotle, who argues that "since nature makes nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made them for the sake of man". This idea, largely unsupported by scripture, was nevertheless taken over by Aquinas, who conceived of creation as a rational hierarchy in which the intellectually inferior existed for the sake of the intellectually superior.
Such instrumentalism, which features rationality as the key factor dividing human beings from "brute beasts," has in turn buttressed the third influence, namely the notion of human superiority in creation. Human superiority need not, by itself, have led to the neglect of animal life, but when combined with the biblical ideas of being made "in the image of God" and God's preferential choice to become incarnate in human form, some sense of moral as well as theological ascendancy was indicated. As a result, Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, have been characterized historically by an overwhelming concern for humanity in creation rather than an egalitarian concern for all forms of God-given life. That humans are more important than animals, and that they self-evidently merit moral solicitude in a way that animals cannot, has become religious doctrine. Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that "it is ….. unworthy to spend money on them [animals] that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery".
These influences have in turn enabled and justified the scientific exploration of the natural world and specifically the subjection of animals to experimentation. Francis Bacon pursued his scientific investigations in the belief that humanity should "recover that right over nature which belongs to it by divine bequest". René Descartes famously likened the movements of a swallow to the workings of a clock, and maintained that "There is no prejudice to which we are more accustomed from our earliest years than the belief that dumb animals think”.
Question: 1

Jesuit Joseph rickaby’s articulation on animals may be termed as:

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • Eco-centric view of animals
  • Anthropocentric view of animals
  • Ethnocentric view of animals
  • Androcentric view of animals
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

A fast way to solve "-centric" vocabulary questions is to isolate the root word: eco- (environment/ecosystem), anthropo- (human), ethno- (ethnic/cultural group), andro- (male).

Rickaby's statement puts "personhood" and "understanding," qualities he assigns only to humans, at the centre of who deserves rights or duties, explicitly placing animals outside that circle, on the same footing as "stocks and stones."
That is a human-centred (anthropo-) standard for moral worth, not an ecosystem-centred, culture-centred, or male-centred one, so the other three roots don't match what the statement is actually doing.

The correct answer is therefore Anthropocentric view of animals.

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Question: 2

According to the author, how did Christianity contribute to insensitivity of the West towards animals?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • It denigrated the value of earthly things in comparison with spiritual things.
  • It divided the world into beings with and without reason.
  • It propagated as if animals are transient or peripheral in human centric economy of salvation.
  • All the above.
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

When a question groups several claims about "how X contributed to Y" and offers "All the above," check whether the claims are drawn from the same paragraph/idea or from different, unrelated parts of the passage.

Here, all three statements, valuing spiritual over earthly things, dividing beings by reason, and treating animals as peripheral to salvation, come from the SAME discussion of Christianity's "other-worldly" tendency in the passage's second paragraph. They read as three ways of describing one connected pattern, not three unrelated causes competing with each other.

Since the passage ties all three together as part of a single Christian influence, the complete answer is All the above.

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Question: 3

Which of the following is closest to the meaning of the word ‘instrumentalism’ as used in the passage?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • Pragmatism
  • Idealism
  • Egalitarianism
  • None of the above
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Break down what "instrumental" means literally: treating something as an instrument, i.e. valuing it for what it can DO or provide, not for what it inherently IS.

That is a practical, use-based way of assigning value, which is the core idea behind "pragmatism" (judging by practical usefulness). It is essentially the opposite of "idealism" (value rooted in ideas/minds) and "egalitarianism" (equal worth for all), both of which reject a purely use-based ranking of beings.

Since "instrumentalism" and "pragmatism" share the same use-based logic, the correct answer is Pragmatism.

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Question: 4

Which of the following is not true in the context of the passage?

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • Western philosophy and science are both under the influence of religion.
  • Western philosophical views on animals have been influenced by religious notions about them.
  • Western religious notions on animals have justified subjection of animals to scientific experimentation.
  • Some of the scientific views on animals have been influenced by religious notions about them.
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

On "NOT true" questions, look for the option that overreaches, generalising something the passage only supports in a specific, limited way.

Options B, C, and D each point to one precise detail in the passage: Aquinas folding Aristotle's idea into Christian theology (B), the passage's direct statement that these influences "justified... the subjection of animals to experimentation" (C), and Bacon citing "divine bequest" to justify scientific inquiry (D).
Option A, by contrast, claims Western philosophy AND science are BOTH broadly "under the influence of" religion, but the passage's Aristotle example shows the opposite direction in that case: a philosophical idea that predated Christianity and was "largely unsupported by scripture" was later absorbed BY religion, not the other way around.

Because option A generalises beyond, and even runs against, what the passage's own example shows, it is the one statement that is NOT true.

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Question: 5

It may be inferred from 'Rene Descartes’ view that

Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • It as irrational to assume that animals have awareness and some mental capacities.
  • Animals are automata or they act mechanically.
  • Neither (A) nor (B)
  • Both (A) and (B)
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

When an inference question offers "Both A and B" alongside "Neither," check each of A and B independently against the text before deciding whether they combine or cancel out.

Check A: Descartes calls the belief that animals think a "prejudice," a word that itself signals an unreasoned, irrational belief, supporting A.
Check B: Descartes compares a swallow's movement to "the workings of a clock," a direct mechanical/automaton comparison, supporting B.

Since the passage backs both statements with separate pieces of textual evidence rather than supporting only one, "Neither" is ruled out and both inferences hold together, making the correct answer Both (A) and (B).

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