Reading Comprehension

PT18 · S3 · P2 · Q8 Is Science Objective

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A recent generation of historians of science, far from portraying accepted scientific views as objectively accurate reflections of a natural world, explain the acceptance of such views in terms of the ideological biases of certain influential scientists or the institutional and rhetorical power such scientists wield.

Topic

Scientific truth's relationship to objective reality

Framework

Present Debate / Challenge a Position

Main Point

C'mon, fools. Y'all know that some scientific truths are objective facts of the world (like H20 or genetics). Sure, it's complicated and roundabout how we discover these truths (lots of mistakes along the way) and it's influenced in interesting ways by power structures and ideologies, but stop playin' like scientific truths are just subjective opinions.

Summary

P1 - Describes 2 points of view (pushes back against one)

We learn what "historians of science" mindset is -- the accepted scientific views we have aren't because they accurately describe objective reality, they're because certain scientists and organizations are influential enough to get other scientists to accept these views.

"Philosophers of science" have a related mindset -- scientific views aren't what they are because they align with objective reality, they're the result of creative scientists inventing things in their minds, with other scientists trying to falsify them.

In the final sentence, the author uses the negative attitude word "extremism", telling us that the author is against historians of science (and probably not a fan of philosophers of science).

P2 - Author sternly rebukes this crap

The author ain't having it. H20 is not the creative invention of a scientist. It's objective reality.

P3 - Author makes some friendly concessions to the historians / philosophers

Hey, philosophers, I feel you --- science takes such a circuitous path to get to the truth (with lots of mistakes and inaccuracies) that it probably feels like a bunch of random conjectures.

Hey, historians, cool stuff --- you've uncovered some interesting insights about how influence / power structures affect which truths become accepted when.

P4 - But, again, don't go runnin' 'round town speakin' that nonsense again

The author reminds these two groups of how cockamamie it is to suggest that scientific truth isn't tethered to objective reality in some crucial way, and she suggests how historians could continue doing their good stuff without venturing into this dumb stuff.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following characterizations of scientific truth?

It is often implausible.
Unrelated to Goal
We're looking for something like, "factual descriptions of the world / objective reflections of the world". We'll consider the caveats of "can be corrected by future scientists / can take a while to surface, depending on the circumstances of who is espousing it", but fundamentally this author thinks that science is all about discovering the actual truth about the universe. This answer is using word-bait with the word 'implausible', which was used to characterize the beliefs of historians of science, not to characterize scientific truth.
7% picked this
It is subject to inevitable
Too Strong: inevitable
Our author would concede that scientific ideas are often corrected over time, but she wouldn't say that scientific truths are subject to guaranteed falsification at some point.
8% picked this
Correct
It is rarely obvious and
Why this is right
This has nothing to do with the author's central take on scientific truth, but this is something derivable from her claims. At the beginning of the 3rd paragraph, where she's making concessions to the historians and philosophers, she says: science's accumulation of lasting truths is not by any means a straightforward matter ... in fact, a whole series of prior discoveries is needed to tease reality's truths from experiment and observation. "Not straightforward" / "teasing out the truths" is good support for the idea that these truths are not obvious and transparent. This is a good time to remind ourselves that "most likely to agree" does not indicate that the correct answer will reflect a Big Idea. It often does, but it doesn't need to. It just needs to be anything we can support from the passage. If the author said X, even in passing, then the author will agree that X is true.
Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
72% picked this
It is rarely discovered by
Too Strong: rarely involves creativity
Although the author is resisting the philosophers' claims that truth is nothing but free inventions of creative minds, our author isn't saying that creative processes aren't involved in discovering it. Our author thinks that you have to be crafty about teasing out reality's truths because they're not obvious. So she could easily think that discovering a scientific truth often involves a creative process (that is then replicated and verified by diligent experimentation and research).
5% picked this
It is less often established
Wrong POV
This sounds like the point of view (POV) of the historians of science, who emphasized that scientific truth is basically a result of which scientists or institutions wield rhetorical power. Our author agrees that social power dynamics play a role in how long it takes for a scientific truth to be publicized and accepted, but the author still thinks that truth is grounded in objective reality, which is measured through experimentation.
9% picked this

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