Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest fo

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Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest for knowledge. Independent of whether great strides have been made in the ability to predict natural events, knowledge at any deeper level, knowledge of things we cannot experience directly, is as illusory as ever. Such knowledge is illusory because incompatible theories may always be postulated to explain observations. How can we “know” which one is correct? Further observations may narrow the possibilities, but there are always alternatives, at least in principle. Who is to say that today’s theories will fare any better than those which, though once accepted, were replaced by wholly different conceptions of nature? It is the height of gullibility or presumption to invest special credence in the current scientific fashion.

Which one of the following claims is central to the author’s argument?

Which one of the following claims is central to the author’s argument?

(A) Alternative explanations are possible for any set of observations about nature.

(B) Science has made substantial progress in the ability to predict natural events.

(C) Science has developed so many theories that it is impossible to know which ones to believe.

(D) It is important that scientists distinguish between prediction and explanation.

(E) The judgment of scientists as to which theories to accept is suspect, as they tend to follow the latest scientific fashion.

shameekv1989 · Answer

Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest for knowledge. Independent of whether great strides have been made in the ability to predict natural events, knowledge at any deeper level, knowledge of things we cannot experience directly, is as illusory as ever. Such knowledge is illusory because incompatible theories may always be postulated to explain observations. How can we “know” which one is correct? Further observations may narrow the possibilities, but there are always alternatives, at least in principle. Who is to say that today’s theories will fare any better than those which, though once accepted, were replaced by wholly different conceptions of nature? It is the height of gullibility or presumption to invest special credence in the current scientific fashion.

Which one of the following claims is central to the author’s argument?

Which one of the following claims is central to the author’s argument?

(A) Alternative explanations are possible for any set of observations about nature.

(B) Science has made substantial progress in the ability to predict natural events.

(C) Science has developed so many theories that it is impossible to know which ones to believe.

(D) It is important that scientists distinguish between prediction and explanation.

(E) The judgment of scientists as to which theories to accept is suspect, as they tend to follow the latest scientific fashion.

Main point of the author is revolving around "Society overestimate the contributions of science". Then gives an example of how natural events are predicted and then counters by saying these predictions are all illusory. Since there are always alternatives to those theories and thus there is no way to know which ones to trust on.

Answer - C => It is not possible to know which theories to believe on

A, B talks about the events that author has used as an example but not the central point of the author. 
D - there is an explanation for the predictions by alternative theories. Author doesn't appeal to the scientists to provide explanations
E - It is the judgement of the society that author is talking about not that of scientists

unraveled · Answer

Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest for knowledge. Independent of whether great strides have been made in the ability to predict natural events, knowledge at any deeper level, knowledge of things we cannot experience directly, is as illusory as ever. Such knowledge is illusory because incompatible theories may always be postulated to explain observations. How can we “know” which one is correct? Further observations may narrow the possibilities, but there are always alternatives, at least in principle. Who is to say that today’s theories will fare any better than those which, though once accepted, were replaced by wholly different conceptions of nature? It is the height of gullibility or presumption to invest special credence in the current scientific fashion.
Which one of the following claims is central to the author’s argument?

(A) Alternative explanations are possible for any set of observations about nature. - CORRECT.

(B) Science has made substantial progress in the ability to predict natural events. - WRONG. Small scope covered in passage.

(C) Science has developed so many theories that it is impossible to know which ones to believe. - WRONG. Irrelevant.

(D) It is important that scientists distinguish between prediction and explanation. - WRONG. Irrelevant.

(E) The judgment of scientists as to which theories to accept is suspect, as they tend to follow the latest scientific fashion. - WRONG. Irrelevant.

IMO Answer A.

eakabuah · Answer

The right answer is A.

Breakdown of argument:
Conclusion: Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest for knowledge. It is the height of gullibility or presumption to invest special credence in the current scientific fashion.
Premise: Independent of whether great strides have been made in the ability to predict natural events, knowledge at any deeper level, knowledge of things we cannot experience directly, is as illusory as ever. Such knowledge is illusory because incompatible theories may always be postulated to explain observations. How can we “know” which one is correct?
Premise: Further observations may narrow the possibilities, but there are always alternatives, at least in principle. Who is to say that today’s theories will fare any better than those which, though once accepted, were replaced by wholly different conceptions of nature?

The question is basically asking us to identify a premise of the argument above. Scanning through the answer choices, it can clearly be seen that A is the right answer.

This is correct as the reason why the author claims that our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest of knowledge is because there are alternative explanations in the form of theories may be postulated to explain observations.

Incorrect and out of scope.

It is not a question of whether there are numerous scientific theories thus making it impossible to know which theory to believe but it is a question of the existence of alternative theories that explain the same scientific observation. C is incorrect.

This is not a premise of the argument above. D is incorrect.

As per the breakdown of the argument, E is not a premise on which the argument relies. E is incorrect.

Ayushi0002 · Answer

C is not wrong or irrelevant. It is given in the premise that knowledge is illusory and we dont know what to believe. But the extension of it is that --- it can be narrowed by the observations. This takes us to the point that -> It is not wrong rather qualified in the premise. The extension is much stronger and what the author sticks with

That by narrowing through observation we're still stuck with numerous options present.

That by narrowing through observation we're still stuck with numerous options present.

Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest fo

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Our society overestimates the contributions of science to the quest fo

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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