Question:
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) given below, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Read the sentences and decide on the correct order for the paragraph.
1. The fact all contribute only to setting the problem, not to its solution.
2. How things are in the world is a matter of complete indifference for what is higher. God does not reveal himself in the world.
3. To view the world sub specie aeterni is to view it as a whole, a limited whole. Feeling the world as a limited whole, it is this that is mystical.
4. It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.
Which of the following is the correct order?
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) given below, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Read the sentences and decide on the correct order for the paragraph.
1. The fact all contribute only to setting the problem, not to its solution.
2. How things are in the world is a matter of complete indifference for what is higher. God does not reveal himself in the world.
3. To view the world sub specie aeterni is to view it as a whole, a limited whole. Feeling the world as a limited whole, it is this that is mystical.
4. It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.
Which of the following is the correct order?
1. The fact all contribute only to setting the problem, not to its solution.
2. How things are in the world is a matter of complete indifference for what is higher. God does not reveal himself in the world.
3. To view the world sub specie aeterni is to view it as a whole, a limited whole. Feeling the world as a limited whole, it is this that is mystical.
4. It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.
Which of the following is the correct order?
Show Hint
Statement 3's word 'this' must refer to something named just before it; find which statement introduces that idea directly, since those two form a fixed, unbreakable pair.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
- 1-2-3-4
- 2-1-3-4
- 2-1-4-3
- 3-1-4-2
Show Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Find the mandatory pair among the four statements.
Statement 4 says, 'It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.' It sets up a contrast between two ideas: what is not mystical (how things are) and what is mystical (that it exists). Statement 3 picks up exactly this second idea and restates it: '...it is this that is mystical.' The word 'this' in statement 3 has to refer back to something already named, and that something is the idea introduced at the end of statement 4. So statement 4 must be followed directly by statement 3, giving the pair 4-3.
Step 2: Use this pair to eliminate wrong options.
Check each option for whether it keeps 4 immediately followed by 3. Option A (1-2-3-4) does not have 4-3 together. Option B (2-1-3-4) also does not have them together. Option D (3-1-4-2) has 4 followed by 2, not 3, so it fails. By elimination, only option C (2-1-4-3) preserves the sequence ending in 4-3.
Step 3: Confirm the beginning of the sequence in option C.
Option C reads 2-1-4-3. Statement 2 says the higher thing, something above the world, is indifferent to how things are in the world, and adds that God does not reveal himself in the world. Statement 1 follows this by saying the fact all contribute only to setting the problem, not to its solution, meaning that facts about the world only raise questions, they do not answer the deeper question of why anything is mystical or higher. This is a logical continuation: statement 2 says the higher thing does not show up through worldly facts, and statement 1 explains that worldly facts can only frame the problem, never solve it.
Step 4: Confirm the ending of the sequence.
After establishing that facts alone cannot solve the problem (statement 1), the paragraph moves to statement 4, which draws the real distinction: it is not the details of how the world is that carry the mystical quality, it is simply that the world exists at all. Statement 3 then closes this thought by saying that viewing the world as a whole, a limited whole, and feeling this is what is mystical. This completes a logical chain from indifference (22), to facts only setting the problem (11), to the real source of the mystical quality (44), to the concluding definition of what mystical means (33).
Step 5: Why the other options fail.
Option A (1-2-3-4) opens with statement 1, which talks about 'the fact all,' implying that some facts have already been discussed, so it cannot be the very first sentence with nothing to refer back to. Option B (2-1-3-4) keeps the opening pair 2-1 correct, but then jumps to 3 before 4, breaking the mandatory 4-3 pair identified in Step 1, since statement 3's 'this' needs to follow statement 4 directly. Option D (3-1-4-2) opens with the concluding, summarizing statement 3, and it also breaks the 4-3 pair by inserting 1 and 2 in between.
Final Answer:
The coherent order is 2-1-4-3. \[ \boxed{\text{Option C: } 2\text{-}1\text{-}4\text{-}3} \]
Statement 4 says, 'It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.' It sets up a contrast between two ideas: what is not mystical (how things are) and what is mystical (that it exists). Statement 3 picks up exactly this second idea and restates it: '...it is this that is mystical.' The word 'this' in statement 3 has to refer back to something already named, and that something is the idea introduced at the end of statement 4. So statement 4 must be followed directly by statement 3, giving the pair 4-3.
Step 2: Use this pair to eliminate wrong options.
Check each option for whether it keeps 4 immediately followed by 3. Option A (1-2-3-4) does not have 4-3 together. Option B (2-1-3-4) also does not have them together. Option D (3-1-4-2) has 4 followed by 2, not 3, so it fails. By elimination, only option C (2-1-4-3) preserves the sequence ending in 4-3.
Step 3: Confirm the beginning of the sequence in option C.
Option C reads 2-1-4-3. Statement 2 says the higher thing, something above the world, is indifferent to how things are in the world, and adds that God does not reveal himself in the world. Statement 1 follows this by saying the fact all contribute only to setting the problem, not to its solution, meaning that facts about the world only raise questions, they do not answer the deeper question of why anything is mystical or higher. This is a logical continuation: statement 2 says the higher thing does not show up through worldly facts, and statement 1 explains that worldly facts can only frame the problem, never solve it.
Step 4: Confirm the ending of the sequence.
After establishing that facts alone cannot solve the problem (statement 1), the paragraph moves to statement 4, which draws the real distinction: it is not the details of how the world is that carry the mystical quality, it is simply that the world exists at all. Statement 3 then closes this thought by saying that viewing the world as a whole, a limited whole, and feeling this is what is mystical. This completes a logical chain from indifference (22), to facts only setting the problem (11), to the real source of the mystical quality (44), to the concluding definition of what mystical means (33).
Step 5: Why the other options fail.
Option A (1-2-3-4) opens with statement 1, which talks about 'the fact all,' implying that some facts have already been discussed, so it cannot be the very first sentence with nothing to refer back to. Option B (2-1-3-4) keeps the opening pair 2-1 correct, but then jumps to 3 before 4, breaking the mandatory 4-3 pair identified in Step 1, since statement 3's 'this' needs to follow statement 4 directly. Option D (3-1-4-2) opens with the concluding, summarizing statement 3, and it also breaks the 4-3 pair by inserting 1 and 2 in between.
Final Answer:
The coherent order is 2-1-4-3. \[ \boxed{\text{Option C: } 2\text{-}1\text{-}4\text{-}3} \]
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