#15 - Ideally, scientific laws should display the virtues of

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (A).

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

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[est15]

I picked E. The second sentence suggests social science is not precise and the third sentence suggests it is not general, so I took that to mean social science is not scientific based on the first sentence. Why is E incorrect and A correct?

[Jon Denning]

Hey est,

Thanks for the question! Let's start with why A is correct, and then look at E.

From the first sentence, we are told that "Ideally, scientific laws should display the virtues of precision and generality," so we know that precise, general laws would be preferable to ones that are less precise, or less general (or both). And that is exactly what answer choice A tells us.

Answer choice E, on the other hand, cannot be known at all, since the only information we have is about what constitutes an "ideal" scientific law, NOT what characteristics a scientific law must have, or what would define something as "truly scientific." In short, it is simply impossible to know whether laws of social science are, or are not, truly scientific, despite the fact that they might not be "ideal" scientifically.

I hope that helps!