Question: Suppose an implication is derived from a hypothesis, and the implication turns out to be true. This fact:
Answer Options:
a. Makes the hypothesis easier to understand.
b. Tends to confirm the hypothesis.
c. Proves the hypothesis true.
d. Sheds light on the hypothesis.
e. Has no effect on the acceptability of the hypothesis.
Answer: b. Tends to confirm the hypothesis.
Question: Prior to the discovery of atmospheric pressure, the failure of wine to pour from the bottom of a barrel unless an opening was made in the top was explained by:
Answer Options:
a. The Empedoclean theory of the four elements.
b. The Aristotelian theory of natural place.
c. The fact that all seventeenth century wine barrels were made from oak.
d. The fact that fermentation produces sediment, which clogs the tap.
e. The principle that nature abhors a vacuum.
Answer: e. The principle that nature abhors a vacuum.
Question: Hypotheses that concern how something should be conceptualized are called:
Answer Options:
a. Psychological hypotheses.
b. Scientific hypotheses.
c. Conceptual hypotheses.
d. Empirical hypotheses.
e. Theoretical hypotheses.
Answer: e. Theoretical hypotheses.
Question: According to Imre Lakatos and Paul Thagard, science is distinguished from pseudoscience in that science is:
Answer Options:
a. Directional.
b. Testable.
c. Flexible.
d. Verifiable.
e. Applicable.
Answer: a. Directional.
Question: The theory of spontaneous generation held that:
Answer Options:
a. Life arises spontaneously from lifeless matter.
b. Life arises spontaneously from sexual reproduction.
c. Life arises spontaneously from various forms of vegetable nutrients.
d. Life arises only from other forms of life.
e. Life arises spontaneously from the action of an electric spark on certain amino acids.
Answer: a. Life arises spontaneously from lifeless matter.
Question: One of the implications of the atmospheric pressure hypothesis was:
Answer Options:
a. It is impossible to produce a pure vacuum.
b. The pressure of the atmosphere would support a column of mercury about 29 inches high.
c. The pressure of the atmosphere is higher on mountaintops than it is in valleys.
d. The pressure of the atmosphere would support a column of water about 29 inches high.
e. Water freezes at a lower temperature at sea level than it does on mountaintops.
Answer: b. The pressure of the atmosphere would support a column of mercury about 29 inches high.
Question: Statements from the Bible about the natural world do not count as scientific evidence because:
Answer Options:
a. The people responsible for these claims are all dead.
b. They are always infected with theological claims.
c. There is no way of determining whether these statements are true.
d. They are not expressed in the language of mathematics.
e. They are usually expressed in metaphorical language.
Answer: c. There is no way of determining whether these statements are true.
Question: One of the hypotheses Pasteur offered to explain the emergence of microbes in sterilized nutrient solutions was that:
Answer Options:
a. Microbes were deposited by dust particles in the air.
b. Temperature resistant spores were present in the solution prior to boiling.
c. Microbes arose from the agency of oxygen on the solution.
d. The container holding the solution had not been properly sanitized.
e. Microbes arose from a chemical reaction in the solution.
Answer: a. Microbes were deposited by dust particles in the air.
Question: The underlying problem that led to the discovery of Neptune was:
Answer Options:
a. Why the orbital path of Uranus deviated from what was predicted.
b. Why the orbit of Uranus is elliptical.
c. Why the orbital path of Saturn deviated from what was predicted.
d. Why the moons of Jupiter failed to influence the rotation of Jupiter.
e. Why Saturn has a greater mass than Uranus.
Answer: a. Why the orbital path of Uranus deviated from what was predicted.
Question: The agreement of Marie Curie’s hypothesis about the existence of radium with Mendeleev’s periodic table of the elements is an illustration of:
Answer Options:
a. Predictability.
b. Internal coherence.
c. Fruitfulness.
d. Adequacy.
e. External consistency.
Answer: e. External consistency.
Question: Prior to the work of Louis Pasteur, the emergence of organisms such as worms, frogs, and eels was explained by:
Answer Options:
a. The theory that nature abhors a vacuum.
b. The theory that organisms of this sort are causes by flies.
c. The theory that organisms of this sort are caused by cosmic dust.
d. The theory of spontaneous generation.
e. Aristotle’s theory of hylomorphism.
Answer: d. The theory of spontaneous generation.
Question: Pasteur’s hypothesis involving spontaneous generation was:
Answer Options:
a. Life arises from the application of heat to nutrient solutions.
b. Life comes only from life.
c. Primitive life forms are present in yeast.
d. Life forms are present in the tails of comets.
e. Life arises from the spontaneous synthesis of organic chemicals.
Answer: b. Life comes only from life.
Question: The ability of Torricelli’s hypothesis about atmospheric pressure to suggest the design of the barometer is an illustration of:
Answer Options:
a. External consistency.
b. Internal coherence.
c. Fruitfulness.
d. Predictability.
e. Adequacy.
Answer: c. Fruitfulness.