#18 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Subject Perspective

[lsatquestions]

I selected the correct answer here but had D as a contender. I knew philosophers of science prefer the physics due to their mistrust of uncertainty. I was thus able to eliminate B which reflects a negative view of physics. Psychics' idea of universal law is in contrast the nondeterminist idea of historical contingency so I eliminated A and E.

Can you please explain why D is incorrect?

[katehos]

Hi lsatquestions!

In this question, we are asked to determine the viewpoint of philosophers of science. More specifically, we're looking for a statement they would agree with regarding the laws of physics. As you've mentioned, the philosophers of science enjoy physics, in part because of a mistrust of uncertainty.

If we look through the passage for other mentions of the philosophers of science, we see that in paragraph 3, the author discusses two statements of these philosophers. One of these statements is that "All planets move in ellipses", which applies not only to planets that actually exist, but also those that could hypothetically exist. This statement provides support for answer choice (C), the correct answer!

Answer choice (D), on the other hand, describes physics as "interesting because of their particularity", but throughout the passage there is no textual support that shows philosophers of science believe physics is particular at all. In fact, it seems that philosophers of science believe physics is "universal" - quite the opposite of "particular"! Since there's no textual support for (D) and there seems to be evidence to the contrary, it can be eliminated.

I hope this helps
Kate