Hi everyone,
Took 13:10 minutes and got 4/5 correct.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------P1In paragraph one we are given that scientific concepts often are explained through mathematics. Some people even think of mathematics as a language and believe that mathematics can describe the physical word in statements. Lastly we are given that the objective of mathematics as a language is to attempt to describe the world in a way similar to the way other languages work.
Brief summary: mathematics is a language and its goal is to describe the physical world
P2If we look into the pursuit of scientific knowledge we will find important questions about the role between language and what language refers to. A debate about how significantly language impacts the pursuit of knowledge has been going on for years among people who study languages. There might be 2 main scenarios: in the first one, language is significantly connected to objects and behaviors; on the other hand, in the second scenario, language is just made up of conventions, making knowledge quite inexact.
Brief summary: Language and what it refers to
P3Recently, the view according to which language is made up of conventions is gaining wide currency. We are given that the way a language is used depends upon changes in accepted practice and the theory used in the discipline at hand. Furthermore, the people supporting this view also think that a mathematical statement is true until is disproved. Opponents object that there is no guarantee that such mathematics statement is 100% accurate.
Brief summary: Language is viewed as an ensemble of conventions
P4Last paragraph works on the implications of the theory mentioned in P3. Linguists and scientists must ask themselves the following question: if language is just a matter of conventions, then how the words that we used will help us in acquiring knowledge?
Brief summary:A important question is yet to be addressed
Main pointThe main point of the passage is to investigate the role of language in relation to the acquisition of knowledge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Which one of the following statements most accurately expresses the passage’s main point?
Pre-thinking
Main point question
Refer to main point and summaries above
(A) Although scientists must rely on both language and mathematics in their pursuit of scientific knowledge, each is an imperfect tool for perceiving and interpreting aspects of the physical world.
This statement is too extreme
(B) The acquisition of scientific knowledge depends on an agreement among scientists to accept some mathematical statements as more precise than others while acknowledging that all mathematics is inexact.
In the passage nowhere it is said that scientists acknowledge that all mathematics is inexact
(C) If science is truly to progress, scientists must temporarily abandon the pursuit of new knowledge in favor of a systematic analysis of how the knowledge they already possess came to be accepted as true.
Such abandonment is never mentioned
(D) In order to better understand the acquisition of scientific knowledge, scientists must investigate mathematical statements’ relationship to the world just as linguists study language’s relationship to the world.
This statement is in line with the last sentences of the passage
(E) Without the debates among linguists that preceded them, it is unlikely that scientists would ever have begun to explore the essential role played by mathematics in the acquisition of scientific knowledge.
No such scenario is presented in the passage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. Which one of the following statements, if true, lends the most support to the view that language has an essential correspondence to the things it describes?
Pre-thinking
Strengthen question
From P2: "The debate centers around whether
language corresponds in some essential way to objects
(20) and behaviors, making knowledge a solid and reliable
commodity;"
(A) The categories of physical objects employed by one language correspond remarkably to the categories employed by another language that developed independently of the first.
This option suggests that 2 languages that evolved independently and still have correspondences between the words used and the objects such words refer to. Correct
(B) The categories of physical objects employed by one language correspond remarkably to the categories employed by another language that derives from the first.
If one language derives from the other then of course words that describe objects are similar. Out
(C) The categories of physical objects employed by speakers of a language correspond remarkably to the categories employed by other speakers of the same language.
Similar reasoning used in choice B
(D) The sentence structures of languages in scientifically sophisticated societies vary little from language to language.
The sentence structure is irrelevant
(E) Native speakers of many languages believe that the categories of physical objects employed by their language correspond to natural categories of objects in the world.
What native speakers believe is irrelevant
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3. According to the passage, mathematics can be considered a language because it
Pre-thinking
Detail question
From P1: "Some thinkers hold that mathematics is a kind of
language—a systematic contrivance of signs,"
(A) conveys meaning in the same way that metaphors do
Not mentioned
(B) constitutes a systematic collection of signs
In line with pre-thinking
(C) corresponds exactly to aspects of physical phenomena
Not mentioned
(D) confers explanatory power on scientific theories
Not mentioned
(E) relies on previously agreed-upon conventions
Not mentioned
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4. The primary purpose of the third paragraph is to
Pre-thinking
Purpose question
The third paragraph describes the view of those who think that language is made of conventions
(A) offer support for the view of linguists who believe that language has an essential correspondence to things
Opposite
(B) elaborate the position of linguists who believe that truth is merely a matter of convention
In line with pre-thinking
(C) illustrate the differences between the essentialist and conventionalist positions in the linguists’ debate
The conventionalist theory only is presented
(D) demonstrate the similarity of the linguists’ debate to a current debate among scientists about the nature of explanation
Out of scope
(E) explain the theory that mathematical statements are a kind of language
Not the intended purpose
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5. Based on the passage, linguists who subscribe to the theory described in lines 21–24 would hold that the statement “The ball is red” is true because
Pre-thinking
Inference question
[b]Because a convention according to which such object is red is established
[/b]
(A) speakers of English have accepted that “The ball is red” applies to the particular physical relationship being described
In line with pre-thinking
(B) speakers of English do not accept that synonyms for “ball” and “red” express these concepts as elegantly
Not in line with pre-thinking
(C) “The ball is red” corresponds essentially to every aspect of the particular physical relationship being described
Not in line with pre-thinking
(D) “ball” and “red” actually refer to an entity and a property respectively
Not in line with pre-thinking
(E) “ball” and “red” are mathematical concepts that attempt to accurately describe some particular physical relationship in the world
Not in line with pre-thinking
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