Self-study
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
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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
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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
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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
15.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Just as philosophers ██ ███████ ████ █████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ █████████████ ██████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. Philosophers of science are
b
While science is █████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████
This is the main point. Many
c
Although biologists have ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ███ █ ███████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████
(C) mixes up the timeline. We don’t know what biologists have long believed. Also, the passage doesn’t say that biologists recently started copying physicists. We do know that it is
d
Whereas physicists have ████████ █ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███████████
The passage does not mention experimental precision, nor does it compare experimental precision between biology and physics.
e
Since many biologists ███ █████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████████
We have no indication that there’s little interaction between philosophy and biology (let alone that this is the passage’s main point). Even if biologists disagree with philosophers, they might still interact with their ideas.