Reading Comprehension

PT108 · S1 · P4 · Q25 What is Language

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What it means to “explain” something in science often comes down to the application of mathematics.

Passage Summary

Passage Summary Helper

Topic

The relationship between mathematical language and scientific explanation; how language shapes scientific knowledge.

Framework

Present Debate (with some Highlight Noteworthy)

Main Point

The way science “explains” the world through mathematics depends on ongoing debates about whether language (including math) truly reflects reality or is simply a matter of convention, and though many in science accept useful mathematical statements as true, it's unclear what function these statements really serve if they don't inherently correspond to the world. ( - Paragraph 2. Also see final lines of P4.)

P1: Introducing Math as Scientific Explanation

Some people think that mathematics, like language, is just a tool with internal rules, and when science "explains" something, it’s about finding accurate mathematical descriptions.

P2: The Language vs. Reality Debate

There's a big debate among linguists: does language (and by extension math in science) truly match up with real things, making knowledge solid? Or is it merely a set of conventions, making knowledge uncertain?

25.

The primary purpose of the third paragraph is to

  1. offer support for the view

    Wrong Point of View

    This paragraph is focused on side 2 of the debate among linguists. This answer reflects side 1.

    4% picked this

  2. Correct

    elaborate the position of linguists

    Why this is right

    The fact that this focuses on side 2 of the debate among linguists should make us keep it on our first pass. The fact that it doesn't address the application of this thinking to math and science might give us pause but shouldn't be grounds for elimination because the transition into and out of P3 is all about the linguists. Ultimately, it ends up being the best answer we're given, even though it lacks a component from our prediction.

    Skill tested: Paragraph Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    61% picked this

  3. illustrate the differences between the

    Unsupported Comparison

    P3 isn't about elaborating the differences between the two debated positions. It focuses exclusively on position 2.

    3% picked this

  4. demonstrate the similarity of the

    Unsupported Comparison

    This answer gives us both the linguists and the scientists, and it calls back to the question posed in P1 about the nature of scientific explanation. That probably makes this one a keeper on the first pass. But there is a difference between applying a principle to a situation and demonstrating the similarity between two positions. P3 gives us clear application language and no explicitly comparative language: "Certainly this characterization would seem applicable to the sciences. In science...Under this view..." We're also never told that there is a current debate among scientists about the nature of explanation. If we research this callback to P1, we see an attribution: "Some thinkers hold..." While this often sets us up for a debate, we never actually get a second set of scientists that are debating this point of view. The only debate we're ever given is that of the linguists. Those two qualms are grounds to eliminate this very tempting trap answer.

    25% picked this

  5. explain the theory that mathematical

    Wrong Point of View

    The theory that math is a kind of language is expressed in P1. It's what some thinkers believe, and it forms the basis for the application of the linguists' position to the sciences in P3. But P3 isn't designed to explain this theory. It's primarily focused on the point of view of the 2nd camp of linguists: those who think the relationship between language and things is a matter of convention.

    6% picked this

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