Scientists in the Institute of Virology tested Influenza-affected patients in Wuhan for all known acute respiratory diseases but could not establish the cause for their influenza from the set of known causes. Hence, they inferred for the first time that a Novel Corona Virus is the cause of their disease. Determine which of Mill's methods matches with the above description?
Understanding the Wuhan Outbreak Investigation
The scenario describes scientists studying influenza cases in Wuhan. They performed tests to identify the cause among all known acute respiratory diseases. When none of the known causes explained the illness, they concluded that a new virus, a Novel Corona Virus, was responsible.
Analyzing Mill's Methods of Induction
Mill's methods help determine causal relationships. Let's consider the options:
- Method of Agreement: Finds a common factor present in all instances where the effect occurs.
- Method of Difference: Compares an instance where the effect occurs with one where it doesn't, seeking the single differing cause.
- Method of Residues: Subtracts known causes and their effects from a complex phenomenon, attributing the remaining effect to the remaining cause.
- Joint Method: Combines the Method of Agreement and Method of Difference.
Matching the Scenario to Mill's Method
The scientists' process involved:
- Observing the effect: Influenza-like illness in patients.
- Accounting for known causes: Testing against all known acute respiratory diseases.
- Eliminating known causes: The illness could not be explained by these known factors.
- Inferring the cause of the residual effect: The remaining unexplained illness was attributed to a Novel Corona Virus.
This step-by-step elimination of known causes to determine the cause of the unexplained part of the phenomenon is the definition of Mill's Method of Residues.
Important Questions from Analytical Reasoning Understanding Relationships in Statements
- Choose the option that correctly matches the names of scholars (P – S) in column X with the fields or approaches (i – iv) in column Y they are primarily associated with.
X Y P. MAK Halliday i. American Structuralism Q. Leonard Bloomfield ii. Cognitivism R. BF Skinner iii. Functionalism S. Jean Piaget iv. Behaviourism Consider the statement: “This is a dragon”. How could this, mentioned in the statement, be instantiated as a description of Aristotle's notion of substance?
- Which historical event is mentioned in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger?
- “The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom."
These lines were written by ________. Which one of the following options correctly matches the texts with their authors?
a. The Lay of the Last Minstrel i. Samuel Taylor Coleridge b. “The Eolian Harp" ii. Thomas De Quincey c. “Ode to Psyche” iii. John Keats d. “The Pains of Opium” iv. Sir Walter Scott
