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Medical College Admission Test: Verbal Reasoning, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Writing Sample (Page 14 )

Updated On: 25-Apr-2026
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Although nihilism is commonly defined as a form of extremist political thought, the term has a broader meaning. Nihilism is in fact a complex intellectual stance with venerable roots in the history of ideas, which forms the theoretical basis for many positive assertions of modern thought. Its essence is the systematic negation of all perceptual orders and assumptions. A complete view must account for the influence of two historical crosscurrents: philosophical skepticism about the ultimacy of any truth, and the mystical quest for that same pure truth. These are united by their categorical rejection of the "known".
The outstanding representative of the former current, David Hume (1711-1776), maintained that external reality is unknowable, since sense impressions are actually part of the contents of the mind. Their presumed correspondence to external "things" cannot be verified, since it can be checked only by other sense impressions. Hume further asserts that all abstract conceptions turn out, on examination, to be generalizations from sense impressions. He concludes that even such an apparently objective phenomenon as a cause-and- effect relationship between events may be no more than a subjective fabrication of the observer. Stanley Rosen notes: "Hume terminates in skepticism because he finds nothing within the subject but individual impressions and ideas."
For mystics of every faith, the "experience of nothingness" is the goal of spiritual practice. Buddhist meditation techniques involve the systematic negation of all spiritual and intellectual constructs to make way for the apprehension of pure truth. St. John of the Cross similarly rejected every physical and mental symbolization of God as illusory. St. John's spiritual legacy is, as Michael Novak puts it, "the constant return to inner solitude, an unbroken awareness of the emptiness at the heart of consciousness. It is a harsh refusal to allow idols to be placed in the sanctuary. It requires also a scorching gaze upon all the bureaucracies, institutions, manipulators, and hucksters who employ technology and its supposed realities to bewitch and bedazzle the psyche."
Novak's interpretation points to the way these philosophical and mystical traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rejection of existing social institutions and their claims to authority is in the most basic sense made possible by Humean skepticism. The political nihilism of the Russian intelligentsia combined this radical skepticism with a near mystical faith in the power of a new beginning. Hence, their desire to destroy becomes a revolutionary affirmation; in the words of Stanley Rosen, "Nihilism is an attempt to overcome or repudiate the past on behalf of an unknown and unknowable, yet hoped- for, future." This fusion of skepticism and mystical re-creation can be traced in contemporary thought, for example as an element in the counterculture of the 1960s.
The passage implies that the two strands of nihilist thought:

  1. are combined in nineteenth and twentieth century political nihilism.
  2. remained essentially separate after the eighteenth century.
  3. are necessary prerequisites for any positive modern social thought.
  4. are derived from distinct Eastern and Western philosophical traditions.

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

This is an inference question. The correct answer, Choice A, is a restatement of the first sentence of Paragraph 4, which says that the two traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. If skepticism and mysticism paved the way for modern political nihilism, then they must be combined in modern political nihilism.
Choice B contradicts the whole thrust of the last paragraph of the passage. Choice C goes too far in saying that the two strands of nihilist thought are necessary prerequisites of any positive modern social thought. The second sentence of Paragraph 1 says that nihilism forms the basis for many positive assertions of modern thought, but this doesn't mean that it must form the basis for all of them. Choice D is out because mysticism appears in both Eastern and Western philosophical traditions.



Although nihilism is commonly defined as a form of extremist political thought, the term has a broader meaning. Nihilism is in fact a complex intellectual stance with venerable roots in the history of ideas, which forms the theoretical basis for many positive assertions of modern thought. Its essence is the systematic negation of all perceptual orders and assumptions. A complete view must account for the influence of two historical crosscurrents: philosophical skepticism about the ultimacy of any truth, and the mystical quest for that same pure truth. These are united by their categorical rejection of the "known".
The outstanding representative of the former current, David Hume (1711-1776), maintained that external reality is unknowable, since sense impressions are actually part of the contents of the mind. Their presumed correspondence to external "things" cannot be verified, since it can be checked only by other sense impressions. Hume further asserts that all abstract conceptions turn out, on examination, to be generalizations from sense impressions. He concludes that even such an apparently objective phenomenon as a cause-and- effect relationship between events may be no more than a subjective fabrication of the observer. Stanley Rosen notes: "Hume terminates in skepticism because he finds nothing within the subject but individual impressions and ideas".
For mystics of every faith, the "experience of nothingness" is the goal of spiritual practice. Buddhist meditation techniques involve the systematic negation of all spiritual and intellectual constructs to make way for the apprehension of pure truth. St. John of the Cross similarly rejected every physical and mental symbolization of God as illusory. St. John's spiritual legacy is, as Michael Novak puts it, "the constant return to inner solitude, an unbroken awareness of the emptiness at the heart of consciousness. It is a harsh refusal to allow idols to be placed in the sanctuary. It requires also a scorching gaze upon all the bureaucracies, institutions, manipulators, and hucksters who employ technology and its supposed realities to bewitch and bedazzle the psyche".
Novak's interpretation points to the way these philosophical and mystical traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rejection of existing social institutions and their claims to authority is in the most basic sense made possible by Humean skepticism. The political nihilism of the Russian intelligentsia combined this radical skepticism with a near mystical faith in the power of a new beginning. Hence, their desire to destroy becomes a revolutionary affirmation; in the words of Stanley Rosen, "Nihilism is an attempt to overcome or repudiate the past on behalf of an unknown and unknowable, yet hoped- for, future." This fusion of skepticism and mystical re-creation can be traced in contemporary thought, for example as an element in the counterculture of the 1960s.
In the passage, quotations from writers about nihilism are used in order to:
I). summarize specific points made in the course of the passage.
II). contrast points of view on the subject under discussion.
III). make transitions between points in the discussion.

  1. I only
  2. I and II only
  3. I and III only
  4. II and III only

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

The third question is in Roman numeral format. You have to decide which statement or statements accurately describe how the author uses quotations from other writers. Let's take the statements one by one.
Statement I is true. There are three quotations used in the passage, two by Stanley Rosen in the second and fourth paragraphs, and one by Novak in Paragraph 3. Rosen's first quote, at the end of Paragraph 2, summarizes Hume's argument, and Rosen's second quote sums up what the author wants to say about the political nihilism of the Russian intelligentsia. Statement I will therefore be part of the correct answer; this eliminates Choice D, which does not include Statement I.
Statement II is false because the author never presents any contrasting points of view in the entire passage.
This rules out Choice B. Statement III, on the other hand, is true. In the opening sentence of Paragraph 4, the author refers to the quote from Novak in the previous paragraph in order to make the transition from the discussion of mysticism to the larger point about how skepticism and mysticism paved the way for nihilism.
Since Statements I and III are true, Choice C is correct.



Although nihilism is commonly defined as a form of extremist political thought, the term has a broader meaning. Nihilism is in fact a complex intellectual stance with venerable roots in the history of ideas, which forms the theoretical basis for many positive assertions of modern thought. Its essence is the systematic negation of all perceptual orders and assumptions. A complete view must account for the influence of two historical crosscurrents: philosophical skepticism about the ultimacy of any truth, and the mystical quest for that same pure truth. These are united by their categorical rejection of the "known".
The outstanding representative of the former current, David Hume (1711-1776), maintained that external reality is unknowable, since sense impressions are actually part of the contents of the mind. Their presumed correspondence to external "things" cannot be verified, since it can be checked only by other sense impressions. Hume further asserts that all abstract conceptions turn out, on examination, to be generalizations from sense impressions. He concludes that even such an apparently objective phenomenon as a cause-and- effect relationship between events may be no more than a subjective fabrication of the observer. Stanley Rosen notes: "Hume terminates in skepticism because he finds nothing within the subject but individual impressions and ideas."
For mystics of every faith, the "experience of nothingness" is the goal of spiritual practice. Buddhist meditation techniques involve the systematic negation of all spiritual and intellectual constructs to make way for the apprehension of pure truth. St. John of the Cross similarly rejected every physical and mental symbolization of God as illusory. St. John's spiritual legacy is, as Michael Novak puts it, "the constant return to inner solitude, an unbroken awareness of the emptiness at the heart of consciousness. It is a harsh refusal to allow idols to be placed in the sanctuary. It requires also a scorching gaze upon all the bureaucracies, institutions, manipulators, and hucksters who employ technology and its supposed realities to bewitch and bedazzle the psyche".
Novak's interpretation points to the way these philosophical and mystical traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rejection of existing social institutions and their claims to authority is in the most basic sense made possible by Humean skepticism. The political nihilism of the Russian intelligentsia combined this radical skepticism with a near mystical faith in the power of a new beginning. Hence, their desire to destroy becomes a revolutionary affirmation; in the words of Stanley Rosen, "Nihilism is an attempt to overcome or repudiate the past on behalf of an unknown and unknowable, yet hoped- for, future." This fusion of skepticism and mystical re-creation can be traced in contemporary thought, for example as an element in the counterculture of the 1960s.
Which of the following is a necessary assumption underlying Hume's conclusion that external reality is unknowable, as discussed in the passage?

  1. Nothing outside the mind exists.
  2. The contents of the mind consist exclusively of sense impressions.
  3. Causality is a subjective projection of the mind.
  4. Sense impressions provide our only information about external reality.

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

This question centers on Hume's conclusion in Paragraph 2 that external reality is unknowable. Hume argued that there is no way to verify whether our sense impressions actually correspond to external reality because all we have to check one of our sense impressions is other sense impressions. He assumed, therefore, that we have no source of information about external reality other than sense impressions ­ Choice D.
Hume never concluded, at least as far as we know, that "nothing outside the mind exists"; he just said that we couldn't know what was outside the mind. This rules out Choice A. Choice B twists Hume's belief that sense impressions are actually part of the contents of the mind; Hume didn't say that sense impressions were all that we have upstairs. Choice C is a distortion of Hume's conclusion that causality may be a subjective projection of the mind.



Although nihilism is commonly defined as a form of extremist political thought, the term has a broader meaning. Nihilism is in fact a complex intellectual stance with venerable roots in the history of ideas, which forms the theoretical basis for many positive assertions of modern thought. Its essence is the systematic negation of all perceptual orders and assumptions. A complete view must account for the influence of two historical crosscurrents: philosophical skepticism about the ultimacy of any truth, and the mystical quest for that same pure truth. These are united by their categorical rejection of the "known".
The outstanding representative of the former current, David Hume (1711-1776), maintained that external reality is unknowable, since sense impressions are actually part of the contents of the mind. Their presumed correspondence to external "things" cannot be verified, since it can be checked only by other sense impressions. Hume further asserts that all abstract conceptions turn out, on examination, to be generalizations from sense impressions. He concludes that even such an apparently objective phenomenon as a cause-and- effect relationship between events may be no more than a subjective fabrication of the observer. Stanley Rosen notes: "Hume terminates in skepticism because he finds nothing within the subject but individual impressions and ideas".
For mystics of every faith, the "experience of nothingness" is the goal of spiritual practice. Buddhist meditation techniques involve the systematic negation of all spiritual and intellectual constructs to make way for the apprehension of pure truth. St. John of the Cross similarly rejected every physical and mental symbolization of God as illusory. St. John's spiritual legacy is, as Michael Novak puts it, "the constant return to inner solitude, an unbroken awareness of the emptiness at the heart of consciousness. It is a harsh refusal to allow idols to be placed in the sanctuary. It requires also a scorching gaze upon all the bureaucracies, institutions, manipulators, and hucksters who employ technology and its supposed realities to bewitch and bedazzle the psyche".
Novak's interpretation points to the way these philosophical and mystical traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rejection of existing social institutions and their claims to authority is in the most basic sense made possible by Humean skepticism. The political nihilism of the Russian intelligentsia combined this radical skepticism with a near mystical faith in the power of a new beginning. Hence, their desire to destroy becomes a revolutionary affirmation; in the words of Stanley Rosen, "Nihilism is an attempt to overcome or repudiate the past on behalf of an unknown and unknowable, yet hoped- for, future." This fusion of skepticism and mystical re-creation can be traced in contemporary thought, for example as an element in the counterculture of the 1960s.
Novak's interpretation of St. John's spiritual legacy (lines 31-38) is important to the author's argument primarily because it:

  1. characterizes the essence of St. John's mystical doctrine.
  2. gives insight into the historical antecedents of political nihilism.
  3. draws a parallel between Christian mysticism and the Humean tradition of philosophical skepticism.
  4. suggests that St. John's teachings are influential mainly because of their sociopolitical implications.

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

In the beginning of the last paragraph, the author says that Novak's quote "points to the way [the] philosophical and mystical traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the 19th and 20th centuries." Choice B paraphrases this statement and is the correct answer.
Although Novak does characterize St. John's doctrine, this is not why his interpretation is important to the author's argument, so A is wrong. Novak does not draw a parallel between Humean skepticism and Christian mysticism, which rules out Choice C, nor does he say that St. John's teachings were influential, so D is wrong as well.



Although nihilism is commonly defined as a form of extremist political thought, the term has a broader meaning. Nihilism is in fact a complex intellectual stance with venerable roots in the history of ideas, which forms the theoretical basis for many positive assertions of modern thought. Its essence is the systematic negation of all perceptual orders and assumptions. A complete view must account for the influence of two historical crosscurrents: philosophical skepticism about the ultimacy of any truth, and the mystical quest for that same pure truth. These are united by their categorical rejection of the "known".
The outstanding representative of the former current, David Hume (1711-1776), maintained that external reality is unknowable, since sense impressions are actually part of the contents of the mind. Their presumed correspondence to external "things" cannot be verified, since it can be checked only by other sense impressions. Hume further asserts that all abstract conceptions turn out, on examination, to be generalizations from sense impressions. He concludes that even such an apparently objective phenomenon as a cause-and- effect relationship between events may be no more than a subjective fabrication of the observer. Stanley Rosen notes: "Hume terminates in skepticism because he finds nothing within the subject but individual impressions and ideas".
For mystics of every faith, the "experience of nothingness" is the goal of spiritual practice. Buddhist meditation techniques involve the systematic negation of all spiritual and intellectual constructs to make way for the apprehension of pure truth. St. John of the Cross similarly rejected every physical and mental symbolization of God as illusory. St. John's spiritual legacy is, as Michael Novak puts it, "the constant return to inner solitude, an unbroken awareness of the emptiness at the heart of consciousness. It is a harsh refusal to allow idols to be placed in the sanctuary. It requires also a scorching gaze upon all the bureaucracies, institutions, manipulators, and hucksters who employ technology and its supposed realities to bewitch and bedazzle the psyche".
Novak's interpretation points to the way these philosophical and mystical traditions prepared the ground for the political nihilism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rejection of existing social institutions and their claims to authority is in the most basic sense made possible by Humean skepticism. The political nihilism of the Russian intelligentsia combined this radical skepticism with a near mystical faith in the power of a new beginning. Hence, their desire to destroy becomes a revolutionary affirmation; in the words of Stanley Rosen, "Nihilism is an attempt to overcome or repudiate the past on behalf of an unknown and unknowable, yet hoped- for, future." This fusion of skepticism and mystical re-creation can be traced in contemporary thought, for example as an element in the counterculture of the 1960s.
The author uses all of the following techniques in developing the topic EXCEPT:

  1. discussion of individuals as representative of intellectual trends.
  2. a contrast between a common definition and his own.
  3. identification of the common elements in distinct intellectual traditions.
  4. examination of the practical consequences of a social doctrine.

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

This scattered Detail question is in the All-Except format, so you have to pick the choice which is a technique not used by the author to develop his thesis. The best approach to this type of question is simply to go through the choices one-by-one.
The author discusses David Hume as a representative of skepticism and St. John of the Cross as a representative of mysticism, so Choice A is not the answer. B is out, too; the author contrasts the common definition of nihilism with his own definition in the first three sentences of the passage. It is also in the first paragraph that the author states that skepticism and mysticism are "united by their categorical rejection of the `known" ­ this identification of the common element in the two traditions is Choice C.
Eliminating these three choices leaves us with Choice D as the correct answer. The author never examines the practical consequences of any social doctrine, let alone those of nihilism.



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