Does Science Tell Us the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. A chief aim of the philosophy of science is

a.
the gradual assimilation of philosophy to science.
b.
verification of the various theories advanced by the sciences.
c.
critical analysis of the various sciences.
d.
establishing the superiority of science over religion.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 388-389

2. Which of the following is a topic with which philosophers of science would be likely to concern themselves?

a.
whether our current theory of genetics is correct
b.
whether or not a particular experiment can work
c.
the nature of theory formation
d.
whether or not a theory is beautiful

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 389

3. “Scientism” is considered to be

a.
the practice of science to the exclusion of all other activities.
b.
a kind of blind faith in the power of science to determine all truth.
c.
fearing the power of science in this day of advanced technologies.
d.
a kind of thinking that denies moral dimensions to the practice of science.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 389

4. The philosophy of science has a direct practical and significant relevance to our daily concerns, because

a.
informed decisions about scientifically related public policy issues require some understanding of the nature and procedures of science.
b.
science itself is always practical.
c.
it is impossible to appreciate all the advances that science has contributed to contemporary life without understanding the nature of science.
d.
understanding the nature and procedures of science will make our lives easier.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 389

5. What did Peirce rename his version of pragmatism?

a.
pragmatics
b.
semiotics
c.
pragmatacism
d.
abduction

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 390

6. According to Peirce, belief is like a

a.
habit.
b.
home.
c.
cave.
d.
blanket.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 391

7. According to Peirce, what does doubt cause us to experience?

a.
loneliness
b.
irritation
c.
hopelessness
d.
pleasure

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 391

8. Unlike the other methods, the method of science relies upon

a.
a willingness to believe.
b.
some external permanency.
c.
human nature.
d.
my own reason.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 395

9. According to the method of authority,

a.
individuals are free to fix their own beliefs.
b.
the state fixes belief.
c.
philosophers fix belief.
d.
only priests can fix belief.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 396

10. The best method of fixing belief is that of

a.
tenacity.
b.
authority.
c.
a priori.
d.
science.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 396

11. According to Peirce, we know a belief is true if it

a.
corresponds with what we already believe.
b.
makes us happy.
c.
carries us to the point at which we aim.
d.
is based upon reason.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 397

12. With respect to the goals of science, Popper considers truth

a.
an impediment to scientific imagination.
b.
irrelevant to the ultimate goals of science.
c.
important to progress, but completely unattainable.
d.
one of the aims of science.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 399

13. According to Popper, scientific progress

a.
is an inevitability.
b.
is a contradiction in terms.
c.
occurs when theories are corroborated through scientific evidence.
d.
is a hope that motivates science but is not actually realized.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 399

14. Popper suggests that theories are potentially satisfactory if they

a.
meet non-empirical criteria for a good explanation.
b.
have caught the attention of scientific practitioners.
c.
inspire, because they are wildly improbable.
d.
conflict with older theories.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 400

15. Verificationists, unlike falsificationists,

a.
uphold the value of reason in science.
b.
believe that confirming instances of a theory show it to be true.
c.
are resistant to the idea of experimentation.
d.
value truth.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 401

16. For the falsificationist, appealing to empirical evidence in support of scientific theories

a.
is insufficient to establish the rationality of science.
b.
interferes with the search for interesting truths.
c.
requires unattainable standards of verification.
d.
confirms the probable truth of those theories.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 401

17. According to Popper, it is a mistake to think that falsificationists

a.
understand that empirical evidence can provide support for a theory.
b.
don’t understand the difference between confirmation and falsification.
c.
care only about criticism and not about truth.
d.
believe that specific theories can be at least tentatively confirmed.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 401

18. According to Popper, science is interested in truth that is

a.
consistent with what we already know.
b.
not really truth at all, but falsifiable.
c.
unattainable.
d.
interesting and relevant to difficult problems.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 402

19. Which of the following are requirements of good science, as Popper understands it?

a.
simplicity and relevant to contemporary concerns
b.
reliability and falsifiability
c.
independent testability and supportive of popular belief
d.
simplicity and independently testable

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 403

20. Popper argues that even scientific theories which are not currently verified are rational if

a.
most scientists agree that they are.
b.
they are potentially fruitful.
c.
it is clear that they will be empirically verified.
d.
they are not wildly speculative.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 403

21. One of the essential characteristics of a paradigm is

a.
it is open-ended enough to leave many problems for its group of practitioners to solve.
b.
its power to discover new, anomalous data.
c.
its incommensurability with normal science.
d.
its impartiality.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 405

22. Paradigms are incommensurable if

a.
they are incompatible.
b.
they are inconsistent.
c.
we cannot tell which is better or more accurate because there are no extra paradigmatic criteria to judge.
d.
they cause separate, parallel incremental progress in normal science.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 405

23. The emergence of a new paradigm in a field affects those in a group that practices that field by

a.
converting them all to a new way of perceiving reality.
b.
requiring retraining and reeducation in their field.
c.
disqualifying many of them from professional practice.
d.
making the older school of thought eventually disappear.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 407

24. Anomalies are important in science because

a.
they present practitioners with unpopular, nonteleological assumptions.
b.
discovery commences with the appearance of anomaly against the background of a paradigm.
c.
they force scientists to disagree about what is a problem and what is a solution.
d.
they reinforce the practice of normal science.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 409

25. According to Kuhn, scientific revolutions are

a.
achievements accepted by the scientific community which are the foundation for its practices.
b.
the guidelines and theories, methods, and standards of a certain scientific field.
c.
political upheavals which replace one set of governing institutions with another.
d.
non-cumulative developmental episodes in which one paradigm is replaced by an incommensurable new one.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 409

26. Scientific revolutions and political revolutions are similar as

a.
both involve a violent coup d’etat.
b.
both displace an authoritarian institution.
c.
both give rise to disfranchised communities.
d.
both partially relinquish one set of institutions in favor of another.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 409

27. Appiah disagrees with Durkheim’s point about symbolic truth because

a.
he claims that nonscientific cultures are nonsymbolic, given the absence of alternative worldviews.
b.
he argues that symbolic truth applies only to technological societies.
c.
he argues that nonscientific cultures are illiterate.
d.
he argues that his definition of rationality applies to nonscientific cultures, without the need for a concept of symbolic truth.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 418

28. Durkheim believes that nonscientific cultures accumulate truth, on the grounds that

a.
they hold beliefs that are symbolically true.
b.
persons are their theoretical entities.
c.
they privilege functional explanations over other types.
d.
they are accommodative.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 418

29. According to Horton, traditional religious beliefs differ from natural science in that

a.
the theoretical entities are material forces rather than persons.
b.
social relationships are the focus of peoples’ efforts to be reduced to a more familiar dimension.
c.
they are theory-laden.
d.
in traditional cultures nature is the focus of reduction from the unfamiliar to the familiar.

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 419

30. Functional explanations are

a.
explanations that rely on the idea of efficient causation.
b.
explanations that rely on the assumption that events happen for a purpose.
c.
explanations that rely on the concept of intentionality.
d.
explanations that rely on the generality of randomness.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 420

31. According to Appiah, the adversarial style is

a.
the need to accommodate conflicting theoretical views.
b.
revolutionary science.
c.
a method to change of belief through rival theory.
d.
the absence of alien worldviews.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 422

32. Appiah argues that the primary reason why traditional cultures are not adversarial is

a.
they are oral, rather than literate cultures.
b.
they are literate, rather than oral cultures.
c.
they are symbolic, rather than literal cultures.
d.
they use functional, rather than intentional explanations.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 423-424

33. The “underdetermination thesis”

a.
is the thesis that all scientific theory is underdetermined and can be used to prove anything.
b.
Is the thesis that some scientific theory is underdetermined and can be used to prove more than one hypothesis.
c.
is used to explain why we will never know whether evolution is true or not.
d.
is the thesis that science is underdetermined and we will come to understand all science in time.

ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: p. 425

34. A(n) ____ approach to feminist science is the problem that Longino addresses.

a.
archeology
b.
morphology
c.
content-based
d.
process-based

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 426

35. Longino argues that the problem with arguing that women have a “distinctive female cognitive temperament” is that

a.
it universalizes women’s experience.
b.
it particularizes women’s experience.
c.
reflects male bias in science.
d.
it focuses on politics rather than on good science.

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 427

36. One of the values relevant specifically relevant to feminist science according to Longino is what?

a.
contextual
b.
constitutive
c.
objective
d.
unbiased

ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: p. 428

37. According to Longino, the underdetermination thesis demonstrates what?

a.
scientific study is determined by its funding sources.
b.
science cannot accurately predict biological models.
c.
science is not value-free.
d.
science is done best by those who are value-free.

ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: p. 428

38. In their studies on human behavior, Doell and Longino use what kind of model in their research?

a.
contextual
b.
constutitive
c.
linear
d.
complex

ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: p. 430-431

TRUE/FALSE

1. The method of tenacity can easily resist the social impulse.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 393

2. According to the a priori method, beliefs are only fixed by appeal to the facts.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 395

3. For Peirce, the method of science is always more advantageous than any of the other methods.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 395

4. The deductive-nomological model of science claims that predictions are based on generalizations from disparate facts.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 398

5. Scientism is the knowledge that scientific method is the basis of relative truths.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 398

6. The hypothetical-deductive method involves “covering” the event under some law, such that explaining something requires deducing it from the relevant laws of nature.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 404

7. Anomalies are new events that do not fit with prevailing beliefs, which generate new and deep questions about accepted scientific views.

a. True

b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 405

8. A paradigm is a model of explanation that covers statements with an indeterminate range of validity.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 408

9. Kuhn claims that the choice between competing paradigms is a choice between incompatible modes of community life.

a. True

b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 410

10. “Underdetermination” refers to the fact that our theories both contribute to forming our experience and give meaning to the language we use for reporting it.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 419

11. Horton argues that supernatural agents play the same role in religious systems as do theoretical entities in science: explanation, prediction, and control.

a. True

b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 419

12. “Theory-ladenness” refers to the situation in which the application of theory to particular cases relies on a whole host of other beliefs, not all of which can be checked at once.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 419

13. Appiah argues that traditional cultures would be better off if they had an adversarial approach to the world.

a. True

b. False

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: p. 424

14. According to Longino, there is no such thing as a feminist science.

a. True

b. False

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: p. 426

15. Underdetermination shows that the nature of science is value-free.