Self-study
Some scientists have expressed reservations about quantum theory because of its counterintuitive consequences. ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███████
Summary
The argument concludes that experimental results warrant the acceptance of quantum theory, despite its counterintuitive consequences. That’s because these experiments rigorously attempted to disprove quantum theory, but still found that quantum theory made accurate predictions.
Notable Assumptions
The argument describes the experimental results, but never actually says why that means we should accept quantum theory. In other words, the argument is assuming that something about the results warrants the acceptance of quantum theory.
To justify that reasoning, we need to find a principle which affirms the argument’s assumption. The principle should establish that if a theory undergoes rigorous attempts to disprove it, and is still found to make accurate predictions, then that’s sufficient to accept the theory.
15.
Which one of the following ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████
a
A scientific theory ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████████████████ ████████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████
The argument never claims that quantum theory’s consequences are less counterintuitive than are those of its competitors, so this rule doesn’t trigger.
b
A scientific theory ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ ███ ██ █████
Quantum theory has been subjected to rigorous attempts to disprove it, and has still made accurate predictions. That means this rule triggers, and it leads to the correct conclusion that we should accept quantum theory, thus justifying the argument’s reasoning.
c
The consequences of █ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██ █████████
This leads to the wrong conclusion—the argument never claims that quantum theory’s consequences should not be considered counterintuitive. In fact, the argument concedes that point, and just says that we should accept quantum theory even so.
d
A theory should ███ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███
This rule doesn’t trigger, because it poses “serious attempts at disproof” as a necessary condition—and fulfilling a necessary condition doesn’t tell us anything. Also, we’re not talking about conditions for rejection, we’re talking about when to accept a theory.
e
A theory should ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███████████
This rule is essentially a backwards version of (B), so instead of giving us the sufficient condition to accept a theory that we need, it creates a necessary condition. That just can’t bridge between the argument’s premises and conclusion.