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CHAPTERS 9 & 11

 

 

I. Put an X to the left of each item that asks for an explanation:

__ What's responsible for your late arrival?

__ Which melts faster: the snow on the lawn or on, the sidewalk?

__ What makes you think that Fred Is out of town?

II. Define briefly:

 

I . Explanandum

2. Explanans

3. Nomological

III. Answer briefly.

 

1. Suppose you ask someone to explain that little puddle In their kitchen. They say, "My dog Fido!" This cannot count as a full explanation, according to the Deductive-Nomological Model. Why not?

2. Perhaps this answer is a part of a full D-N explanation. Provide an outline of what might be the full explanation.

IV. Answer briefly. Suppose somebody asks., "Why was this door open?" If emphasis were put on different words in this question, it could be Interpreted as requests for several different explanations. Below three different words could be emphasized. Indicate three different emphases by underlining a different word in each copy of the question and then write down an imaginary answer, showing how the different emphasis results in a request for a different explanation.

 

1. Why was this door painted blue?

2. Why was this door painted blue?

3. Why was this door painted blue?

CHAPTER 11

 

1. Answer briefly.

 

1. Why is it more often important to base Investigation on hypotheses when trying to answer explanation questions than when trying to answer bare-fact questions?

2. Give an example of an explanation-question which could be quite easily answered by an investigative process which Involved entertaining no hypotheses.

11. TRUE/FALSE Underline T to the left of each correct conclusion to the statement. Underline F to the left of each incorrect conclusion. There may be one or more than one or no T conclusions for each item.

 

1. Hypotheses are ...

T F theories which have been proven false

T F candidates for explanation

2. Sorting out hypotheses Into the plausible and implausible ones...

T F should never be done In advance of experiment and observation

T F violates Mrs. Smith's policy never to rely on conventional wisdom

3. What did Archimedes do In the bathtub?

T F He formed a hypothesis about how to find out the speed of failing bodies

T F He proved that the king's crown was solid gold

4. Kekulé's molecular-structural explanation of the properties of benzene...

T F was made after he had a dream about snakes

T F is an example of the irrational component in hypothesis-formation

T F showed that any dreamer can make advances in chemistry

5. Darwin's reading In the economic theories of Malthus

T F provided Darwin with the proof of evolutionary theory

T F provided Darwin with a hypothesis, on the basis of analogy with Malthus's ideas

T F demonstrated to Darwin that hypotheses were sometimes just plain wrong