PrepTest 140, Section 1, Question 10
Vincent: No scientific discipline can study something that(43 more words not shown)
Vincent's and Yolanda's statements provide(14 more words not shown)
- AHappiness is an(3 more words not shown)
- BOptometry is a(2 more words not shown)
- CA scientific discipline(5 more words not shown)
- DHappiness research is(8 more words not shown)
- EExperiences that cannot(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why can't we measure a subjective experience? We could at least ask someone to rate their happiness from one to ten. That wouldn't automatically give us a perfect measure, but Vincent needs more than “it's subjective” to rule measurement out.
Yolanda makes a similar point through optometry. An eye doctor asks patients what they can see. The doctor is relying on what another person reports experiencing, yet Yolanda treats optometry as a scientific discipline. So subjective reports can't, by themselves, disqualify a field from being scientific.
What we’re looking for
For the disagreement question, that's the dividing line I want: can a scientific discipline rely on subjective reports? Vincent's objection treats subjectivity as a barrier; Yolanda's example challenges that barrier. We don't need to turn her response into a claim that happiness research meets every other requirement of a science.
Working the answers
- A
Yolanda doesn't deny that happiness is subjective. She points to another field that uses reports of people's experiences and is nevertheless scientific. Her response challenges what Vincent concludes from subjectivity, not the claim that happiness is subjective.
- B
Yolanda explicitly regards optometry as scientific, but Vincent doesn't discuss optometry. We can't choose a disagreement merely because one speaker takes a clear position; we also need an opposing position from the other.
- CCorrect
Vincent links subjectivity to an inability to measure and therefore to an inability to study scientifically. Yolanda responds with a scientific discipline that relies on patients' subjective reports. Her example supports a yes to this question and challenges the exclusion underlying Vincent's reasoning.
- D
Yolanda doesn't establish that the two fields are equally scientific in every relevant respect. Her comparison addresses one proposed objection to happiness research. Defeating that objection doesn't require claiming complete equality between the disciplines.
- E
Vincent moves from happiness being subjective to its being unmeasurable. This answer moves from being unmeasurable to being entirely subjective, which is a different claim. More importantly, Yolanda doesn't take a position on whether every unmeasurable experience is subjective. We have no supported disagreement on that statement.
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