Passage 7

For me, scientific knowledge is divided into mathematical sciences, natural sciences or sciences dealing with the natural world (physical and biological sciences), and sciences dealing with mankind (psychology, sociology, all the sciences of cultural achievements, every kind of historical knowledge). Apart from these sciences is philosophy, about which we will talk later. In the first place, all this is pure or theoretical knowledge that is intrinsic and consubstautial to man. What distinguishes man from animal is that he knows and needs to know. If man did not know that the world existed, and that the world was of a certain kind, that he was in the world and that he himself was of a certain kind, he wouldn’t be a man. The technical aspects or applications of knowledge are equally necessary for man and are of the greatest importance, because they also contribute to defining him as man and permit him to pursue a life increasingly more truly human.

But even while enjoying the results of technical progress, he must defend the primacy and autonomy of pure knowledge. Knowledge sought directly for its practical applications will have immediate and foreseeable success, but not the kind of important result whose revolutionary scope is in large part unforeseen, except by the imagination of the Utopians. Let me recall a we N-known example. If the Greek mathematicians had not applied themselves to the investigation of conic sections zealously and without the least suspicion that it might someday be useful, it would not have been possible centuries later to navigate far from shore. The first men to study the nature of electricity could not imagine that their experiments, carried on because of mere intellectual curiosity, would eventually lead to modern electrical technology, without which we can scarcely conceive of contemporary life. Pure knowledge is valuable for its own sake, be-cause the human spirit cannot resign itself to ignorance. But, in addition, the foundation for practical results would not have been reached if this knowledge had not been sought disinterestedly.

31. The most important advances made by mankind come from __.

A) technical applications

B) apparently useless information

C) the natural sciences

D) philosophy

32. The word "Utopians" in the 2nd sentence in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to __.

A) idealists

B) Greek mathematicians

C) scientists

D) true human

33. In the paragraph the follows this passage, we may expect the author to discuss __.

A) the value of technical research

B) the value of pure research

C) philosophy

D) unforeseen discoveries

34. The word "resign" in the 6th sentence in the 2nd paragraph is closest in meaning to

A) dismiss

B) quit

C) remark

D) submit

35. The title that best expresses the ideas of this passage is __.

A) "Technical Progress"

B) "A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing"

C) "Man’s Distinguishing Characteristics"

D) "The Function of Theoretical Knowledge as Compared to Its Practical Applications"