Self-study
P1
What it means to "explain" something in science often comes down to the application of mathematics. ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ █ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █ ████████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████
Thinkers' perspective ·
Science is about finding a mathematical explanation for things in the world
Math is a language that can describe the world.
P2
██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████████ █████
Question ·
What's the relationship between language and what it refers to?
Linguists' answers ·
Either language corresponds to things, or it's purely a matter of convention
P3
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Supporters of "convention" answer ·
Language depends on what people accept
A statement is true only when there are no plausible alternatives that might make one question it.
Analogy to science ·
Mathematical statements about the world can be seen as true based on agreement
A more persuasive mathematical statement can come along and displace an old one.
P4
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Implication for linguists ·
If language is merely convention, what does it tell us about the world?
Analogous implication for scientists ·
If mathematical models/explanations are merely convention, what role do they play in scientific knowledge?
The author's main point is that we need to answer this question.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
22.
Which one of the following ██████████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████
a
Although scientists must ████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
This is missing an important part of the main point: the relationship between language/math and the real world. The author’s ultimate conclusion isn’t that math and language are imperfect;
Also note that it may overstate the case to describe the author as concluding that language and math are imperfect. While she describes theories that say they are, strictly speaking, she doesn’t take a position herself.
b
The acquisition of ██████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ █████████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The passage does not accept that acquiring scientific knowledge depends on acknowledging that all mathematics is inexact. It may be the case that the relationship between math and the world is inexact, but this doesn’t mean that math itself is inexact.
c
If science is █████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ █ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The author never suggests that the pursuit of new knowledge must be abandoned, so this can’t be the main point.
d
In order to ██████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ████████████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████
This correctly states the author’s main point
e
Without the debates █████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████
This is never stated in the passage––the author never suggests that the debates among linguists were necessary to spark similar debates among scientists. In fact, the author