Copernicus's astronomical system is superior to Ptolemy's and was so at the time it was proposed, even though at that...

Virginia_61092 August 16, 2015

I meant why B is not correct and D is.

alymathieu January 6, 2019

Can someone answer the initial question as to why c is incorrect

Jacob-R January 6, 2019

Hi @alymathieu and @Virginia_61092

I’m happy to help. In order to find the answer that is the principle the argument most closely conforms to, we need to first understand the argument in the passage. What is it saying?

The conclusion is that Copernicus’s astronomical system is superior to Ptolemy’s and was so at the time it was proposed, even though observational evidence was equally consistent with both theories. Why? Because Copernicus CORRECTLY thought that a simpler theory was true.

And that is what answer D tells us: other things being equal, the more complex theory is inferior (which is a different way of saying that a simpler theory was superior!)

B is incorrect because it misses the argument’s point about the simpler theory being superior — it instead just says that the true theory is superior. Of course it is, but that is not what the passage was saying!

C is incorrect because the passage also didn’t say anything about practicality of theories and their adoption. It also misses the simplicity point.

I hope that helps. Please let us know if you have further questions.