Elizabeth’s sister, Meredith, isn’t answering her phone when Elizabeth calls. Elizabeth thinks, “Well, either Meredith’s phone has been stolen, or the battery died.” Reasoning that Meredith’s phone likely died, and that her phone wasn’t stolen would best illustrate _____.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The prompt asks us to identify which concept is illustrated by Elizabeth preferring the simpler explanation that Meredith’s phone died rather than assuming it was stolen.
Option 1: reasoning. This is a broad term that describes the act of thinking, but it does not name a specific methodological principle about choosing explanations. It’s not the key idea here.
Option 2: parsimonY. Parsimony is the principle that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Here, assuming the battery died and not that the phone was stolen aligns with choosing the simpler, fewer-assumption explanation, which fits parsimony.
Option 3: determinism. Determinism is the doctrine that all events are predetermined by preceding causes and laws, often implying inevitability. This scenario is about selecting a simpler explanation, not about whether events are predetermined.
Option 4: testability. Testability refers to whether a hypothesis can be empirically tested. While testability is important in science, the described reasoning emphasizes simplicity rather than how testable the hypothesis is.
In summary, the described reasoning process reflects a preference for the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions, which is the core idea of parsimony.

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Elizabeth’s sister, Meredith, isn’t answering her phone when Elizabeth calls. Elizabeth thinks, “Well, either Meredith’s phone has been stolen, or the battery died.” Reasoning that Meredith’s phone likely died, and that her phone wasn’t stolen would best illustrate _____.

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