W.T. Stace, "Science and the Physical World"
1. According to Stace, the only reason we have for believing in
the law of causation is
- (a) the belief that unobservables exist
- (b) the observation of regular sequences between events
- (c) other scientists believe in this law
- (d) the desire to explain things
2. According to Stace, knowledge of the existence of
unobservables such as electrons, protons, neutrons etc., can
only be obtained by
- (a) direct observation or perception
- (b) making a conjecture about what exists and attempting to
falsify it
- (c) a causal inference from what we directly perceive
- (d) inductive generalization
3. According to Stace, scientists have no reason to postulate
unobservable causes to account for observed phenomena
because
- (a) observed events can be sufficiently accounted for in
terms of other observed events
- (b) unobservable causes are hard to perceive
- (c) we cannot infer the existence of unobserved causes from
observed events
- (d) we never observe anything except sensed objects
4. According to Stace, no one could know that atoms exist
because
- (a) we cannot validly infer the existence of atoms from the
existence of sensations
- (b) we do not have the technology to directly perceive atoms
- (c) atoms are only hypothetical
- (d) atoms do not exist
5. According to Stace, theoretical statements are
- (a) true, in the sense that they correspond with the facts
- (b) true, in the sense that they are consistent with other
truths
- (c) true, in the sense that they enable us to predict
observations
- (d) false
6. According to Stace, scientific laws are
- (a) important for explaining observed phenomena
- (b) abbreviated formulae, which simply state what happens
- (c) about unobservables
- (d) useless
7. According to Stace, the reason scientists believe atoms and
other theoretical entities exist is that
- (a) they believe that science explains things in terms of
familiar entities
- (b) they believe that one day it will be possible to observe
these entities
- (c) they believe that they can infer the existence of these
entities from sensation
- (d) they believe that these entities must exist if the atomic
theory is true
8. According to Stace, "nothing exists except sensations (and the
minds which perceive them)" because
- (a) we cannot validly infer the existence of anything else
from the existence of sensations
- (b) we never directly perceive anything except sensations
- (c) only things that we directly perceive exist
- (d) all of the above
9. According to Stace, the existence of unobservables is
- (a) necessary in accounting for observable phenomena
- (b) unnecessary in accounting for observable phenomena
- (c) intuitively obvious
- (d) none of the above
10. According to Stace, all causal inferences are inferences
- (a) from observables to unobservables
- (b) from unobservables to observables
- (c) from observables to observables
- (d) none of the above
11. According to Stace
- (a) we do not have a "proper" reason to believe that atoms exist
- (b) we do have a "proper" reason to believe that atoms exist
- (c) we don't need a "proper" reason to believe atoms exist
- (d) none of the above
ANSWERS
