Directions for questions 9 to 12: The passage given below is followed
by a set of four questions. Choose
the most appropriate answer to each question.
Why are we here? Where did we come from? The answer generally given
was that humans were of
comparatively recent origin, because it must have been obvious, even
at early times, that the human race
was improving in knowledge and technology. So it can't have been
around that long, or it would have
progressed even more. For example, according to Bishop Usher, the Book
of Genesis placed the creation
of the world at 9 in the morning on October the 27th, 4,004 BC. On the
other hand, the physical surroundings,like mountains and rivers,
change very little in a human lifetime. They were therefore thought to
be a constant background, and either to have existed forever as an
empty landscape, or to have been created at the same time as the
humans. Not everyone, however, was happy with the idea that the
universe had a
beginning.
For example, Aristotle, the most famous of the Greek philosophers,
believed the universe had existed
forever. Something eternal is more perfect than something created. He
suggested the reason we see
progress was that floods, or other natural disasters, had repeatedly
set civilization back to the beginning.
The motivation for believing in an eternal universe was the desire to
avoid invoking divine intervention to
create the universe and set it going. Conversely, those who believed
the universe had a beginning, used it
as an argument for the existence of God as the first cause, or prime
mover, of the universe.
If one believed that the universe had a beginning, the obvious
question was what happened before the
beginning? What was God doing before He made the world? Was He
preparing Hell for people who asked
such questions? The problem of whether or not the universe had a
beginning was a great concern to the
German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. He felt there were logical
contradictions, or antimonies, either way.
If the universe had a beginning, why did it wait an infinite time
before it began? He called that the thesis. On the other hand, if the
universe had existed forever, why did it take an infinite time to
reach the present
stage? He called that the antithesis. Both the thesis and the
antithesis depended on Kant's assumption,
along with almost everyone else, that time was Absolute. That is to
say, it went from the infinite past to the
infinite future, independently of any universe that might or might not
exist in this background. This is still
the picture in the mind of many scientists today.
However in 1915, Einstein introduced his revolutionary General Theory
of Relativity. In this, space and time
were no longer Absolute, no longer a fixed background to events.
Instead, they were dynamical quantities
that were shaped by the matter and energy in the universe. They were
defined only within the universe, so
it made no sense to talk of a time before the universe began. It would
be like asking for a point south of the
South Pole. It is not defined. If the universe was essentially
unchanging in time, as was generally assumed
before the 1920s, there would be no reason that time should not be
defined arbitrarily far back. Any socalled
beginning of the universe would be artificial, in the sense that one
could extend the history back to
earlier times. Thus it might be that the universe was created last
year, but with all the memories and
physical evidence, to look like it was much older. This raises deep
philosophical questions about the
meaning of existence.
9. Which of the following can be concluded on the basis of the passage?
A. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied that time before
the beginning of the universe
cannot be defined.
B. Aristotle conceived the idea that the universe did not have a beginning.
C. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied that time cannot be measured.
(a) Only A (b) B and C (c) A and B (d) Only C
10. How did the beliefs of Immanuel Kant and Aristotle, regarding the
beginning of the universe, differ?
(a) Kant found logical contradictions in Aristotle's ideas.
(b) Both Kant and Aristotle were mistaken as they had assumed time to
be Absolute.
(c) Aristotle believed the creation of the universe could not be
attributed to God whereas Kant
disagreed.
(d) Kant rejected Aristotle's beliefs as erroneous.
11. Which of the following best captures the impact of Einstein's
General Theory of Relativity on the
debate regarding the beginning of the universe?
(a) It proved that all existing theories were incorrect.
(b) It resolved the debate beyond any question.
(c) It proved that the universe could have been created at any time.
(d) It took away a central assumption and rendered the debate pointless
12. Which one of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?
(a) The extent of progress that we've achieved suggests that human
beings came into existence
recently.
(b) Religious texts are frequently inaccurate regarding the time of
the beginning of the universe.
(c) Many in the scientific community still believe in the absolute
nature of time.
(d) If the universe has existed forever its creation cannot be
attributed to a prime mover or creator.
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