Self-study
P1
What it means to "explain" something in science often comes down to the application of mathematics. ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ █ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █ ████████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████
Thinkers' perspective ·
Science is about finding a mathematical explanation for things in the world
Math is a language that can describe the world.
P2
██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████████ █████
Question ·
What's the relationship between language and what it refers to?
Linguists' answers ·
Either language corresponds to things, or it's purely a matter of convention
P3
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Supporters of "convention" answer ·
Language depends on what people accept
A statement is true only when there are no plausible alternatives that might make one question it.
Analogy to science ·
Mathematical statements about the world can be seen as true based on agreement
A more persuasive mathematical statement can come along and displace an old one.
P4
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Implication for linguists ·
If language is merely convention, what does it tell us about the world?
Analogous implication for scientists ·
If mathematical models/explanations are merely convention, what role do they play in scientific knowledge?
The author's main point is that we need to answer this question.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
24.
According to the passage, mathematics ███ ██ ██████████ █ ████████ ███████ ██
a
conveys meaning in ███ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██
Unsupported. The author does not say that the reason that math can be considered a language is because it conveys meaning in the same way that metaphors do.
b
constitutes a systematic ██████████ ██ █████
This is directly
c
corresponds exactly to ███████ ██ ████████ █████████
Unsupported. This is not the reason that the author gives for considering mathematics to be a language. The author, at the very least, thinks it’s possible that language doesn’t always correspond exactly to the physical world.
d
confers explanatory power ██ ██████████ ████████
This is
e
relies on previously ███████████ ███████████
This is what the conventionalists