PT111.S2.P3.Q15 > Analytics

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Philosophers of science have long been uneasy with biology, preferring instead to focus on physics. ███

Phenomenon · Philosophers of science prefer physics to biology

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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 ████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The main point of this Debate passage is to consider the extent to which biology is governed by universal laws. Biological determinists think that biology operates under universal laws, like other sciences, while nondeterminists emphasize the role of historical contingency, meaning that chance events and unique circumstances can shape outcomes.

Just as philosophers ██ ███████ ████ █████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ █████████████ ██████████

This is descriptively inaccurate. Philosophers of science are reluctant about uncertainty. Additionally, the passage never indicates that biologists shy away from confronting philosophical questions. In fact, P4 shows how biologists are engaging with the philosophical questions.

While science is █████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████

This is the main point. Many accept that science is governed by universal laws. There is a debate between biological determinists and nondeterminists about how much these universal laws apply to biology.

81%

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 recently that biologists have been considering a philosophical approach different from the physicists––the passage doesn’t say that this has been happening for a long time.

15%

Whereas physicists have ████████ █ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███████████

The passage does not mention experimental precision, nor does it compare experimental precision between biology and physics.

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.

PrepTest 111 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 15

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