Philosopher: To explain the causes of cultural phenomena, a social

Question

Philosopher: To explain the causes of cultural phenomena, a social scientist needs data about several societies: one cannot be sure, for example, that a given political structure is brought about only by certain ecological or climatic factors unless one knows that there are no similarly structured societies not subject to those factors, and no societies that, though subject to those factors, are not so structured.

The claim that to explain the causes of cultural phenomena, a social scientist needs data about several societies plays which one of the following roles in the philosopher’s reasoning?

(A) It describes a problem that the philosopher claims is caused by the social scientist’s need for certainty.

(B) It is a premise used to support a general theoretical claim about the nature of cause and effect relationships.

(C) It is a general hypothesis that is illustrated with an example showing that there is a causal relationship between political structures and environmental conditions.

(D) It is a dilemma that, it is argued, is faced by every social scientist because of the difficulty of determining whether a given cultural phenomenon is the cause or the effect of a given factor.

(E) It is a claim that the philosopher attempts to justify by appeal to the requirements for establishing the existence of one kind of causal relationship.

HASTOWINGMAT · Answer

Can anyone please provide an explanation on why E is correct and other options are wrong.

gaurangkaul · Answer

Please if you could explain why is E correct, the correct justification for the same would be?

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

The philosopher claims that the social Scietist need data about several societies to explain the causes of cultural phenomena, that a particular structure is a end result of certain factors which are unique from other structures and no society having same set of factors follow through same structure.

The data is collected for the sole reason to justify something. Data bridges the gap between what we know and what is the actuality. Here we are asked the role of data collection for the social scientists.

(A) It describes a problem that the philosopher claims is caused by the social scientist’s need for certainty. (The data suggest results, statistics, justification regarding the problem, it is not a problem itself) (Incorrect)

(B) It is a premise used to support a general theoretical claim about the nature of cause and effect relationships. (According to the passat, The data is used by social scientists to justify the theory of cultural phenomena, definitely not a general cause and effect relationship existing, which is a broad scope not a specific theory) (Incorrect)

(C) It is a general hypothesis that is illustrated with an example showing that there is a causal relationship between political structures and environmental conditions.(Hypotheses is assumption, whereas data explain statistics regarding something, direct in contrast to the assumptions used, hence data can't be assumption) (Incorrect)

(D) It is a dilemma that, it is argued, is faced by every social scientist because of the difficulty of determining whether a given cultural phenomenon is the cause or the effect of a given factor.(Dilemma again means the confusion while the data provides proven facts, irrelevant)

(E) It is a claim that the philosopher attempts to justify by appeal to the requirements for establishing the existence of one kind of causal relationship.(Yes, the data is used to justify somthing, also the data collected by the social scientists in the passage is of one (unique) kind of casual relationship, different all together from rest (in contrast what's been generalized in option B)

Hence, Answer is E
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Nipungupta9081 · Answer

Conclusion: To identify a cause, social scientist need data about several societies...

Why?

One cannot be sure that A (specific pol struc) is caused by B (certain factors), unless one knows that there are no instances where A exists (specific pol struc) without B (certain factors), and where B exists (certain factors) there are no A (specific pol struct).

Answer E

A) Incorrect. Skews the scope. The "problem" (perhaps it is a standard practice and not really a problem) is not necessarily caused by a need for certainty. The "problem" is caused by the need to properly establish causation.( X )

B) Incorrect. Out of scope. We are focused on "cultural phenomena" and not general theoretical claims. ( X )

C) Incorrect. It doesn't show that there is a relationship. The evidence highlights the means by which to PROVE a relationship. ( x )
 
D) Incorrect. Misapplies the evidence and scope of information in the passage. Referring to "every" social scientist exceeds the scope; moreover, "difficulty" of proving a causal relationship is not mentioned. Perhaps it's a relatively easy process which just requires a couple seconds of Googling. ( X )
 
E) Correct. The claim (conclusion) is justified by evidence which shows how to establish a causal relationship. ( ✔ )

vamshikaithi · Answer

By saying this, "a social scientist needs data about several societies", the philosopher states his conclusion and supports his conclusion b stating an example. All other options do not match this critieria.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Philosopher: To explain the causes of cultural phenomena, a social

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