Err... Wow... talk about some weird, hard to read English. Basically what this passage boils down to, I daresay, is that nothing can be proved beyond all doubt, because it is impossible to test something under every possible condition imaginable. Therefore, anything that is scientific law is something we can currently test for and prove to the best of our ability.
Lecture: Given our current state of knowledge and technology, we can say that the generalization that the entropy of a closed system cannot decrease for any spontaneous process has not been falsified by any of our tests of that generalization. So we conclude it to be true universally. Yet, it must be admitted that this generalization has not been conclusively verified, in the sense that it has not been tested in every corner of the universe, under every feasible condition. Nevertheless, this generalization is correctly regarded as a scientific law; indeed, it is referred to as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most justifies the lecturer’s classification of the generalization described above?
(A) Whatever is a scientific law has not been falsified.
Nope. That would mean that anything you can imagine but someone else can't disprove becomes scientific law.
(B) If a generalization is confirmed only under a few circumstances, it should not be considered a scientific law.
Does this justify the lecture's classification? Nope. Few circumstances? Does that fill one with confidence in something? Sigh, this is a close answer choice since it doesn't go contrary to the lecturer, I daresay, but it doesn't really have the force of justification that (D) does.
(C) Whatever is true universally will eventually be confirmed to the extent current science allows.
Not relevant to what we are currently talking about.
(D) If a generalization is confirmed to the extent current science allows, then it is considered a scientific law.
Yep, and it kind of fits with what I'm sure a lot of you already know. There have been theories before which we thought of as true before some current science disproved it. That still means that, for the duration they seemed to be right, they were considered scientific law.
(E) Whatever is regarded as a scientific law will eventually be conclusively verified.
Kind of back to front, since it means whatever we regard, even mistakenly, will be verified. Not relevant to the lecture's view on the matter, I daresay, in any event.
Some Kudos would be nice
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