PT111.S4.Q11

PrepTest 111 - Section 4 - Question 11

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One approach to the question of which objects discussed by a science are real is to designate as real all and only those entities posited by the most explanatorily powerful theory of the science. ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████

Summary

The author concludes that it’s wrong to designate all and only those entities posited by the most explanatorily powerful theory of a science as real. (In other words, there are some things posited by the most explanatorily powerful theory of a science that are NOT real.)

What makes the author believe this?

Because most scientific theories posit some entities solely on theoretical grounds.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that if an entity is posited on solely theoretical grounds, then it’s not real. This is why the author believes that there are some things that are posited by the most explanatorily powerful theory of a science that are NOT real, and that it would be wrong to designate them as real.

Show answer
11.

Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████

a

Any object that ██ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████

b

Objects posited for ███████████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████

c

A scientific theory ██████ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████

d

A scientific theory ██████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ███████████ █████

e

Only objects posited ██ █████████████ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████

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Are you sure?