The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
Different sciences exhibit different science cultures and practices. For example, in astronomy, observation – until what is today called the new astronomy – had always been limited to what could be seen within the limits of optical light. Indeed, until early modernity the limits to optical light were also limits of what humans could themselves see within their limited and relative perceptual spectrum of human vision. With early modernity and the invention of lensed optical instruments – telescopes – astronomers could begin to observe phenomena never seen before. Magnification and resolution began to allow what was previously imperceptible to be perceived – but within the familiar limits of optical vision. Galileo, having learned of the Dutch invention of a telescope by Hans Lippershey, went on to build some hundred of his own, improving from the Dutch 3x to nearly 30x telescopes – which turn out to be the limit of magnificational power without chromatic distortion. And it was with his own telescopes that he made the observations launching early modern astronomy (phases of Venus, satellites of Jupiter, etc.). Isaac Newton’s later improvement with reflecting telescopes expanded upon the magnificational-resolution capacity of optical observation; and, from Newton to the twentieth century, improvement continued on to the later very large array of light telescopes today – following the usual technological trajectory of “more-is-better” but still remaining within the limits of the light spectrum. Today’s astronomy has now had the benefit of some four centuries of optical telescopy. The “new astronomy,” however, opens the full known electromagnetic spectrum to observation, beginning with the accidental discovery of radio astronomy early in the twentieth century, and leading today to the diverse variety of EMS telescopes which can explore the range from gamma to radio waves. Thus, astronomy, now outfitted with new instruments, “smart” adaptive optics, very large arrays, etc., illustrates one style of instrumentally embodied science – a technoscience. Of course astronomy, with the very recent exceptions of probes to solar system bodies (Moon, Mars, Venus, asteroids), remains largely a “receptive” science, dependent upon instrumentation which can detect and receive emissions.
Contemporary biology displays a quite different instrument array and, according to Evelyn Fox-Keller, also a different scientific culture. She cites her own experience, coming from mathematical physics into microbiology, and takes account of the distinctive instrumental culture in her Making Sense of Life (2002). Here, particularly with the development of biotechnology, instrumentation is far more interventional than in the astronomy case. Microscopic instrumentation can be and often is interventional in style: “gene-splicing” and other techniques of biotechnology, while still in their infancy, are clearly part of the interventional trajectory of biological instrumentation. Yet, in both disciplines, the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalized and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories. So, minimalistically, one may conclude that the sciences are technologically, instrumentally embodied. But the styles of embodiment differ, and perhaps the last of the scientific disciplines to move into such technical embodiment is mathematics, which only contemporarily has come to rely more and more upon the computational machinery now in common use.
All of the following statements may be rejected as valid inferences from the passage EXCEPT: Moderate
1. interventionist instruments, or instruments that intervene directly in scientific inquiry, are different from embodied instruments, or instruments that embody scientific inquiry.
2. Isaac Newton’s experiments with reflecting telescopes were the earliest versions of the “new astronomy” referred to in the passage.
3. the advances in telescopy made by Newton with reflecting telescopes allowed early modern astronomers to observe the phases of Venus and the satellites of Jupiter.
4. the author distinguishes between the receptive and interventionist uses of instruments in the sciences by comparing astronomy and biology, respectively.
Answer
Correct Option: 4
Rationale: The passage explicitly contrasts the two disciplines to illustrate different styles of scientific embodiment. It describes astronomy as largely a “receptive” science (dependent on detecting emissions) and contrasts it with contemporary biology, which it describes as having an “interventional” culture (using techniques like gene-splicing). Option 4 accurately reflects this distinction made by the author.
Why other options wrong: Option 1 is incorrect because the passage argues that both receptive and interventionist sciences are “instrumentally embodied,” just in different styles; it does not suggest they are mutually exclusive categories of “embodied” vs “interventionist.” Option 2 is incorrect because the “new astronomy” is explicitly defined as opening the full electromagnetic spectrum (radio, gamma, etc.), which happened in the 20th century, long after Newton. Option 3 is incorrect because the passage attributes the observation of the phases of Venus and Jupiter’s satellites to Galileo, not Newton.
Difficulty: Moderate
To which one of the following instruments would the characterisations of instruments in the passage be least applicable? Easy
1. Saxophone
2. Milestone
3. Kitchen oven
4. Scalpel
Answer
Correct Option: 2
Rationale: The passage characterizes scientific instruments as technological devices that extend human perception (telescopes), manipulate matter (gene-splicing), or process data (computational machinery). They are described as having a “trajectory” of improvement and being part of “technoscience.” A milestone is a static, passive marker used for reference, not a complex tool for observation, intervention, or data processing. It lacks the dynamic, technological, and functional characteristics attributed to instruments in the text.
Why other options wrong: A saxophone (Option 1), while musical, is still a complex “instrument” requiring manipulation and technology, sharing more mechanical characteristics with scientific tools than a rock. A kitchen oven (Option 3) and a scalpel (Option 4) involve intervention and manipulation of materials, aligning closer to the “interventional” nature of biological instruments described in the passage.
Difficulty: Easy
None of the following statements, if true, contradicts the arguments in the passage EXCEPT: Hard
1. because of the relatively recent entry of computational machinery in mathematics, the field is only now beginning to develop a scientific culture.
2. some scientific instruments may be classified as both receptive and interventional in their functions.
3. like telescopy, microscopy has also sought to move beyond the visible spectrum to be able to detect objects that are invisible in that spectrum.
4. Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity was accomplished without the help of instruments.
Answer
Correct Option: 1
Rationale: The passage begins by stating, “Different sciences exhibit different science cultures and practices.” It later identifies mathematics as one of these scientific disciplines (“the last of the scientific disciplines… is mathematics”). If Option 1 were true—that mathematics is only *now* beginning to develop a scientific culture because of computers—it would contradict the passage’s premise that mathematics was already a science (and thus possessed a science culture) prior to its recent adoption of computational machinery.
Why other options wrong: Option 2 does not contradict the passage; while the text distinguishes between receptive and interventional styles, it does not forbid an instrument from having both functions. Option 3 supports rather than contradicts the general theme of instruments expanding perception beyond human limits. Option 4 does not contradict the passage because the author emphasizes that sciences are “today” highly instrumentalized; the mention of Newton’s telescopes refers to observational astronomy, not necessarily his theoretical work on gravity, and the text acknowledges that early science had different limits.
Difficulty: Hard
Which one of the following observations is a valid conclusion to draw from the statement that “the sciences involved are today highly instrumentalised and could not progress successfully without constant improvements upon the respective instrumental trajectories”? Moderate
1. Highly instrumentalised work in the sciences has resulted in the progressive improvement of scientific constants.
2. The use of instruments in scientific trajectories must be respected in order to see successful progress in them.
3. In both astronomy and microbiology, progress has been the consequence of improvements in the instruments they use.
4. The growth of scientific technologies has led to the embodiment of progress in the trajectories of improvement.
Answer
Correct Option: 3
Rationale: The quoted statement argues that modern science relies on “constant improvements” in instruments to “progress successfully.” Option 3 applies this principle directly to the two main examples in the text: astronomy and microbiology. It correctly concludes that the progress in these specific fields is a result of the improvements in their respective tools (telescopes and biotech/microscopes).
Why other options wrong: Option 1 mentions “scientific constants,” which is a specific physics concept not discussed in the passage. Option 2 introduces a moral requirement (“must be respected”) that is not present in the text. Option 4 is vague and abstract (“embodiment of progress”), failing to capture the specific cause-and-effect relationship between better tools and scientific success described in the passage.
Difficulty: Moderate
