PrepTest 156 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 6

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Passage A is adapted from a book review by physicist Freeman Dyson. ███████ █ ██ ███████ ████ █ ████████ ██ ███ ███████

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Intro topic · Two views of role of science in knowledge

Reductionists think all knowledge is reducible to science. Traditionalists think science is just one out of many kinds of knowledge. Dyson is a traditionalist.

Application of two views · Two takes on paranormal phenomena

Scientific attempts to study paranormal phenomena have failed. Skeptics think this means paranormal phenomena doesn’t exist. Dyson thinks they can still exist.

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Support for A's Perspective · Anecdotal evidence of paranormal phenomena

There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence of paranormal phenomena. Although these can’t be reproduced under controlled conditions, there are good reasons why that’s not possible.

Support for A's perspective · Paranormal phenomena and science may be complementary

Paranormal phenomena and science may be complementary, meaning that they might both be valid, but can’t be observed at the same time.

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Description of A's perspective · Recap of Dyson's view in ridiculing way

B's perspective · Dyson's wrong

Experiments show that paranormal phenomena doesn't exist.

Response to complementarity · Doesn't apply to paranormal activity

Passage Style

Both passages are concerned with █████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████

Question Type

Stated

A question that asks what each passage is “concerned with answering” is like a combination of a Stated and Purpose question. (I dropped “primary” from “primary purpose,” because the question isn’t asking what the passage is “primarily concerned with answering.”)

Each of the answers presents a question. The correct answer will be the one that relates to a purpose of both passages. Here, we can predict that Passage A’s purpose is to defend the possibility of paranormal phenomena. Passage B’s purpose is to criticize Passage A’s defense.

Does experiencing apparent ██████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████

Neither passage addresses whether paranormal phenomena leads to (causes) stress. Passage A does state that paranormal phenomena may occur “only when people are under stress.” But that doesn’t reveal whether the phenomena can or cannot cause stress. Passage B mentions stress, but only to refer to Passage A’s comments about stress. Passage B does not reveal any opinion about whether paranormal phenomena can lead to stress.

Is it possible ████ ██████████ █████████ ██████

This is the central question addressed in Passage A.

Also the central question addressed in Passage B.

82%

Do anecdotes have ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████

Each passage arguably provides an answer to this question. Both Passage A and Passage B state that anecdotes are not scientific. Perhaps you think that’s close enough to capturing anecdotes’ place in scientific inquiry – they have no place. However, there’s a difference between anecdotes being unscientific and anecdotes having no role. Maybe anecdotes can play an instructive or pedagogical role in scientific inquiry, even if they are not a reliable source of knowledge? Perhaps anecdotes can play an inspirational role, spurring new questions and directions for scientific inquiry? Neither passage actually addresses the potential “role” of anecdotes. So, we can eliminate (C) for that reason.

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Is the principle ██ ███████████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████████

Passage B does not answer this question (and therefore cannot be concerned with answering this question). Although Passage B does state that the principle of complementarity “does not apply to the paranormal,” that does not indicate whether Passage B believes the principle cannot apply anywhere else outside of quantum physics.

Also, answering this question is not a purpose of Passage A. Passage A’s comment about complementarity was a minor point used as support for a conclusion about paranormal phenomena. But the passage was not written in order to answer this question about the principle of complementarity.

Are there kinds ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ████████

Passage B believes the fact that paranormal phenomena cannot be proven in scientific experiments is convincing evidence that it does not actually exist. This implies that Passage B doesn’t think there is any kind of knowledge outside of that which can be proven by science. But, making this point is not the purpose of Passage B. Passage B uses the idea that there isn’t knowledge outside of science to support the conclusion that paranormal phenomena does not exist.

Also, answering this question is not a purpose of Passage A. Although Passage A does believe that there are other kinds of knowledge not reducible to science, this point is used to support a conclusion about paranormal phenomena.

PrepTest 156 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 6

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