PrepTest 136, Section 2, Question 19
Social scientist: Since the body of thought known(44 more words not shown)
The social scientist's conclusion follows(9 more words not shown)
- AThe description that(19 more words not shown)
- BThe aims of(17 more words not shown)
- COnly bodies of(9 more words not shown)
- DScientific theories cannot(10 more words not shown)
- EThe means of(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why couldn't a scientific theory also support a political program?
The social scientist says Marxism describes an “inexorable” historical movement, meaning one that cannot be stopped, and should therefore be regarded as a scientific theory. We don't have to settle whether the description is true to see the next jump. The author uses the scientific classification to reject interpreting Marxism as a program for transforming society.
Those categories haven't been shown to exclude each other. A body of thought might describe how society changes and also be used to advocate changing it. Calling it scientific doesn't, by itself, put a barrier between it and a political interpretation.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to make the conclusion follow. Supply that barrier: scientific theories cannot correctly be understood as political programs, or as implying them. With that restriction, accepting the author's scientific classification would rule out the interpretation being criticized.
Working the answers
- A
Accurate, rigorous description would support the scientific side of the discussion. But even if Marxism described historical phenomena exactly as rigorously as claimed, why couldn't it also support a political program? A doesn't close the gap between the two classifications.
- B
This separates the aims of science from the aims of people seeking political change. We need to separate what a scientific theory can be or imply from a political program. People with different aims could still use the same body of thought. A difference in purposes doesn't establish that the interpreters have misconstrued this theory.
- C
This places a restriction on what counts as a scientific theory: it must consist purely of rigorous description. It doesn't say that such a description cannot also imply a political program. The conclusion rejects that political interpretation, so the added premise needs to reach that issue.
- DCorrect
Marxism is to be regarded as a scientific theory, and this rule says no scientific theory can correctly be interpreted as a political program or as implying one. Therefore the people interpreting Marxism that way have misunderstood it. D supplies exactly the exclusion the original reasoning needed.
- E
The predicted socialization could happen regardless of efforts to bring it about, but that doesn't decide how to classify the body of thought. A theory could predict an inevitable change while also being interpreted as advocating that change. The truth of the prediction isn't the missing restriction on political interpretation.
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