PT111.S2.P3.Q20

PrepTest 111 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 20

Hide analysis
P1

Philosophers of science have long been uneasy with biology, preferring instead to focus on physics. ███

Phenomenon · Philosophers of science prefer physics to biology
██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ████████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██ ████ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██████

Explanation · Because they mistrust uncertainty
Science is supposed to be about what is universally true. Hence, philosophers of science are interested in the fact that elephants and mice fall at the same rate but not why one is big and another small.
P2

████████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ████████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████████████ █████ ███████ ██ █ ███ ██ █████████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ███

Biologists 1 · try to emulate physicists by asserting that laws of biology are universal too
E.g., all DNA evolves at a constant clocklike rate
█████████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████

Biologists 2 · question whether biology is universal
Perhaps historical contingency is necessarily a part of biology.
P3

██ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██████████ █████████████ ████ ██ ████████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████████████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ █ █████████████ ██████

Illustration of Disagreement · "All planets move in ellipses" v. "All swans are white."
"All planets move in ellipses" is a truly universal claim. Its truth depends only on the laws of physics and hence apply to all planets that exist or could exist.
P4

██████████ ████████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ██████ █████ ███████████████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███

Biologists 1 · Universal interpretation
These biologists (determinists) claim that "All swans are white" is also universal. Because the laws of natural selection guarantee that outcome.
██████████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ ███
Biologists 2 · Non-universal interpretation
These biologists (nondeterminists) disagree. They interpret the claim as a matter of historical contingency, not as a necessary truth.
███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ██████

Conclusion · History of evolutionary theory is the history of struggle between these two competing views
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Show answer
20.

The passage suggests that the ██████████ ██ ████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ ███

a

belief that biological ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ████

Unsupported. The passage never suggests that philosophers of science are concerned with how difficult laws are to discover. We know that philosophers of science prefer universal laws. The question is whether biological laws exist at all—not whether they’re harder to discover. Physics, by contrast, is known to have universal laws.

17%
b

popular attention given ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███████

Unsupported. The passage never mentions popular attention.

2%
c

bias shown toward ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████████

Unsupported. The passage never mentions research programs of scientific institutions.

2%
d

teaching experiences of ████ ████████████ ██ ███████

Unsupported. The passage never mentions teaching experiences.

2%
e

nature of the █████████ ████ ██████████ █████

As shown in P1, philosophers of science are concerned with phenomena that are repeatable and subject to universal laws. This explains their preference for physics, which is based on universal laws.

78%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic
More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

Confirm action

Are you sure?