CAT 2025 Slot 3 VARC Question 10

Multiple choice (+3 / −1) · Verbal Ability · Parasummary · Try it, then check the answer and solution below.

The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. In investigating memory-beliefs, there are certain points which must be borne in mind. In the first place, everything constituting a memory-belief is happening now, not in that past time to which the belief is said to refer. It is not logically necessary to the existence of a memory-belief that the event remembered should have occurred, or even that the past should have existed at all. There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population that “remembered” a wholly unreal past. There is no logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the world began five minutes ago. Hence the occurrences which are CALLED knowledge of the past are logically independent of the past; they are wholly analysable into present contents, which might, theoretically, be just what they are even if no past had existed.
Answer and solution

Answer: A) That which we call ‘knowledge of the past’ is logically independent of the past, since the act of remembering which forms memory-beliefs happens in the present, and does not need to be based in real past occurrences, or even need a past at all.

Step-by-Step Explanation and Answer:
1
Passage Context & Central Idea:
The passage discusses memory-beliefs, arguing that they are present events and not dependent on past occurrences. It posits that knowledge of the past is logically independent of whether a past existed, using the example of the world beginning five minutes ago with people remembering a false past.
2
Question Stem Analysis:
The question requires identifying the summary that best captures the passage's core argument about the independence of memory-beliefs from past events.
3
Option-by-Option Elimination:
Option A: Accurately reflects the passage's argument, emphasizing logical independence and the present nature of memory-beliefs.
Option B: Correct but less precise, focusing on the absence of a past rather than the broader logical independence.
Option C: Misrepresents the passage by suggesting dependence solely on present memories and using imprecise wording.
Option D: Distorts the focus, concentrating on the unreliability of memory rather than independence.
4
Final Answer Confirmation:
The most accurate and comprehensive summary is Option A.
Correct Answer: A

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