ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the scientific method,

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the process nerds use to get girls to like 'em.

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Heh heh. We know.

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That's what I used in high school.

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It didn't really work, though.

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[ sobbing ]

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All right, well, here. Read the excerpt.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right, and now the question.

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Did I say that out loud?

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All right, the language used in the excerpt most strongly supports

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which of the following ideas?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ meow ]

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All right.

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Let's check out the language in this excerpt.

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Truman says the greatest achievement in science was

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putting together infinitely complex

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pieces of knowledge held by men

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in different fields.

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Sounds like Harry S. was pretty amped about all the

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great scientific progress happening around him.

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Let's see which answer best matches

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his level of excitement.

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Does the language in the excerpt support

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A - Manifest Destiny?

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Hmm. Well, at this point, the American frontier

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was considered closed. So Manifest Destiny was no longer relevant.

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That eliminates A.

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Would this language have supported B -

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military interventionism?

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Well, while U.S. participation in World War II

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was certainly an example of military interventionism,

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this quote specifically deals with science

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and technology, not Truman's foreign policy.

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So that knocks out B.

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Does the language support

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C - disillusionment?

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In the speech, Truman marvels

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at the achievement of scientific brains.

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So he's pretty excited about the technological progress,

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not disillusioned. So C is a no-go, too.

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That means the language in the excerpt

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most strongly supports D -

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scientific modernism.

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People who believed in scientific modernism

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relied on the scientific method,

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the idea that hypotheses can be tested

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based on evidence and impartial

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observation. This way of thinking

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led to breakthrough technologies, including

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the atomic bomb, which both amazed and horrified

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the world. So D is the right answer.

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These scientific advancements also challenged religious beliefs

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and people started to question where authority came from,

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how the world worked, and what the meaning

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of life was.

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You know, the easy stuff.

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[ rumbling ]

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