#21 - Global Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[deck1134]

How is the answer to this question C? Would A not be a better choice? Thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

Tell us why you think so, deck! With a better understanding of your thought process, we can give you a more useful response that addresses where you may be going astray. We'll await your reply on this one!

[lsatshalin77]

Why isn't (B) a good answer: "revising a theory."

The author of Passage A talks about auxiliary premises, and how negative evidence wouldn't necessarily disprove the entire theory, rather it might just disprove a particular premise associated with it. (Which to me seems to suggest it slightly changes the theory)

Passage B gives the example where the "astronomers changed their assumptions about the other planets" and then the measurements for Uranus' orbit fit with Newton's theory.

Is the question just being nit-picky that revising "assumptions" of a theory does not equal revising the theory itself?

[Adam Tyson]

Good question, lsatshalin77, and the answer is that the "auxiliary premises" mentioned in Passage A are not revisions to earlier premises or to the theory, but are part of any theory right from the beginning. The author is saying any theory starts out with those assumptions, like the assumption that the instruments are working the way they are supposed to. The author writes "When scientists actually derive a theory’s predictions, they almost always need diverse additional “auxiliary” premises... ." That's telling us those premises are baked right in and not grafted on later.

Thus, Passage A never really talks about revising a theory at all, and answer B fails. I hope that clears it up for you!

[g_lawyered]

Hi P.S.,
I also have the same question 'Deck" posted a while ago. Why isn't A the correct answer choice? I considered A as a contender because in Passage B it states "Another was that there was an error in auxiliary assumptions"... "The astronomers changed their assumptions....". I thought this line reference supports that the experiment (about Newton's law in finding Uranus) was incorrect. Can someone explain where and why A goes wrong? Was my reasoning close?

Thanks in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

I interpret "repudiating an experimental result" to mean denying that the results are accurate, or refusing to accept the results. Passage A never says anything about rejecting the results of an experiment. Instead, it talks about rejecting a theory. So it's not "your experimental results were incorrect," but rather "the results show that the theory is incorrect" and also "the results indicate that the underlying assumptions may be incorrect."

So there is no quarrel with the results of any experiment, but just with what those results indicate.

[g_lawyered]

Wow that makes sense. I missed the mark because of the word "result" instead of "theory". Thanks for the explanation!

[egreenberg]

Leading to a rejection of a theory = disproving ?
sounds like most scientists just think its less convincing of a theory rather than disproving Newton.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi egreenberg,

Yes, here "rejection of Newton's theory" (lines 62-63) is synonymous as disproving a theory. I realize that in everyday usage, the word "disproving" may sound more conclusive than just "rejection," but the test makers are using them as synonyms here. Be aware that the test makers like to use synonyms in the correct answer choice (especially in reading comp) to try to hide/disguise the correct answer, so be careful not to rule out an answer that may be using a synonym.

The idea is that the "rejection" of Newton's theory in Passage B is meant to be an example of a theory disproven by negative evidence discussed in Passage A, even though the exact words are not identical.

Of the five answers, Answer C is the best, even if we'd prefer that they had used the word "reject" rather than "disprove."