Self-study
Philosopher: As many prominent physicists have suggested, Support energy is merely a theoretical construct. █████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that physical objects are theoretical constructs. This is based on the following facts:
Energy is a theoretical construct.
Since the theory of relativity says there’s no essential distinction between energy and mass, mass is also a theoretical construct.
All physical objects are made purely of mass and energy.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that qualities that apply to each of a physical objects’ parts (mass and energy) must also apply to the whole. This overlooks the possibility that even if mass and energy are theoretical constructs, physical objects don’t have to be.
13.
The philosopher's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It fails to ████████ ███████ ████████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████
This possibility doesn’t undermine the argument. Other things can be made purely of mass and energy. The author didn’t assert that only physical objects are made purely of mass and energy.
b
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████████
The author overlooks that something (physical objects) can lack a feature (being a theoretical construct) even if it is composed purely of things (mass and energy) that have that feature (being a theoretical construct).
c
It presumes, without █████████ ██████████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████████ ███████ █████
The author does not assume that anything has different features. The author cites to mass and energy, which are both theoretical constructs, to conclude that physical objects are also theoretical constructs. The author does not point out any difference between things.
d
It fails to ███████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██████████
The author doesn’t try to argue that because physical objects are a theoretical construct, they must have some other feature of theoretical constructs. The conclusion is that physical objects are theoretical constructs.
e
It presumes, without █████████ ██████████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █ █████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███████████
The author notes that many physicists have suggested energy is merely a theoretical construct. But the author doesn’t use this as proof energy is a theoretical construct. Rather, the author simply asserts as a premise that energy is a theoretical construct.