PrepTest 111, Section 2, Question 17
Philosophers of science have long been uneasy with(447 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(21 more words not shown)
- AThe appearance of(14 more words not shown)
- BThe rate at(12 more words not shown)
- CThe causes of(11 more words not shown)
- DThe qualities that(16 more words not shown)
- EThe chief physical(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Which biologists are the determinists? The ones who think universal laws make biological outcomes necessary. In the swan example, they would explain whiteness by saying natural selection made another result impossible. I'm looking for that commitment to laws, however the answer phrases it.
Working the answers
- A
Biological necessity fits, but historical chance does not. This combines necessity with the very possibility the opposing view leaves open. The first half can't rescue the second.
- B
This doesn't express their position. The example given is a proposed constant, clocklike rate of DNA evolution, whereas B asserts fluctuating rates. We needn't claim that determinism requires every characteristic to change at the same speed; this particular statement simply isn't the view presented.
- C
Never understanding the causes is different from believing those causes are universal laws. The determinists are trying to explain evolution, not declaring explanation impossible.
- D
This says a process is unidentified. That tells us nothing about whether it works through necessity or allows historical contingency. Their defining commitment is to the first kind of explanation.
- ECorrect
Inevitable consequences captures the necessity we're looking for. The laws of natural selection would necessarily produce white swans (paragraph 4). E applies that same view to a species' chief physical characteristics.
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