#9 - Global Reference, Point at Issue Questions, Principle

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[123@456]

Could you please explain why A is incorrect? Is it because this question ask about underlying principles intend of points of disagreement?

[Meshal Alotaibi]

One principle in passage B is that the ONLY way to prove phenomona exist is through controlled experiments, something passage B sequarely disagrees with.

Passage A might agree with answer choice A; while the complimentary applies, there could be others that do not.

[Robert Carroll]

123@456,

Passage B seems to be saying that the principle of "complementarity" in passage A doesn't apply to the paranormal. There is no indication that passage B thinks it doesn't apply to studies of human behavior in general. So I really don't see how answer choice (A) fits what passage B was saying. I think that really should be the end of the discussion, but I could also point out that there's nothing in passage A that shows me the author thinks answer choice (A) is false, either. The author of passage A believes there is a principle in quantum physics that does apply; does that mean the author of A thinks EVERY principle applies? There's no basis for that.

Meshal,

It looks like you expressed what I was saying in my second point, thanks! That's a good catch.

Robert Carroll

[miriamson07]

123@456,

Passage B seems to be saying that the principle of "complementarity" in passage A doesn't apply to the paranormal. There is no indication that passage B thinks it doesn't apply to studies of human behavior in general. So I really don't see how answer choice (A) fits what passage B was saying. I think that really should be the end of the discussion, but I could also point out that there's nothing in passage A that shows me the author thinks answer choice (A) is false, either. The author of passage A believes there is a principle in quantum physics that does apply; does that mean the author of A thinks EVERY principle applies? There's no basis for that.

Meshal,

It looks like you expressed what I was saying in my second point, thanks! That's a good catch.

Robert Carroll

Hello,

I'm a bit confused on how we know that Passage A does agree that principles of quantum physics can be applied to studies of human behavior in at least one way. I know that this isn't entirely necessary to know in order to choose the right answer, but I'd still like to understand.

The only part of Passage A that I see mentioning quantum physics is the last paragraph. I understand this last paragraph to say that in quantum physics, two descriptions of nature may both be valid but cannot be observed scientifically. However, I do not think that this means there are principles of quantum physics that can be applied to studies of human behavior. Am I perhaps missing a part of Passage A that does indicate this is true?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi miriamson,

You wrote, "I'm a bit confused on how we know that Passage A does agree that principles of quantum physics can be applied to studies of human behavior in at least one way."

We don't know that. However, what Robert posted wasn't that we know that Passage A does agree with Answer A. Instead, what Robert wrote was that "there's nothing in passage A that shows me the author thinks answer choice (A) is false, either." This is not the same as what you wrote, and it's important to be able to understand the difference (not just to understand the explanation, but to understand how these questions work). This question is a Point at Issue question. We need an answer in which one passage (in this case Passage B) clearly agrees with the answer choice and one passage (in this case Passage A) clearly disagrees. If you cannot tell how either of the author feels about the answer choice based on the passage, then it is wrong. Here, we cannot determine from Passage A whether the author would agree or disagree with Answer A, so Answer A is incorrect.

For Answer D, there is evidence that the author of Passage B would agree with this principle and that the author of Passage A would disagree.

[miriamson07]

Hi miriamson,

You wrote, "I'm a bit confused on how we know that Passage A does agree that principles of quantum physics can be applied to studies of human behavior in at least one way."

We don't know that. However, what Robert posted wasn't that we know that Passage A does agree with Answer A. Instead, what Robert wrote was that "there's nothing in passage A that shows me the author thinks answer choice (A) is false, either." This is not the same as what you wrote, and it's important to be able to understand the difference (not just to understand the explanation, but to understand how these questions work). This question is a Point at Issue question. We need an answer in which one passage (in this case Passage B) clearly agrees with the answer choice and one passage (in this case Passage A) clearly disagrees. If you cannot tell how either of the author feels about the answer choice based on the passage, then it is wrong. Here, we cannot determine from Passage A whether the author would agree or disagree with Answer A, so Answer A is incorrect.

For Answer D, there is evidence that the author of Passage B would agree with this principle and that the author of Passage A would disagree.

Hello,

In my last question, I was asking about this part of Robert’s answer: “The author of passage A believes there is a principle in quantum physics that does apply.” Back then, I did not see how this was true, but now I do. I believe that the “complementary” term is the principle in quantum physics that applies.

In that case, wouldn’t it be correct to say “Passage A does agree that principles of quantum physics can be applied to studies of human behavior in at least one way?” Please let me know.

Thanks!