SSC MTS 2026 PYQ — Question 86

SSC MTS - 17 Feb 2026 - Shift 2 • English • Q86

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:

The term 'enlightenment' describes a cultural milieu and intellectual movement that began in Western Europe in the seventeenth century and reached its peak in the eighteenth. Its main characteristic was the belief that human reason, universal and consistent, is adequate to solve basic issues and to set fundamental standards of living. For some Enlightenment thinkers, the model of reason was the inductive method of science, which infers universal laws from particular empirical observations. For others, particularly Descartes and his followers, reason was modeled on geometry, involving the deduction of specific truths from clear and distinct universal ideas known intuitively by the 'light of reason.' Many Enlightenment thinkers employed both

Which of the following best describes what is meant by enlightenment?

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A

Explanation

The term 'enlightenment' is defined in the very first sentence.

The passage states:

'The term 'enlightenment' describes a cultural milieu and intellectual movement that began in Western Europe in the seventeenth century...'