PrepTest 105, Section 4, Question 21
Ethicist: A person who treats others well is(53 more words not shown)
If the ethicist's statements are(10 more words not shown)
- AOnly actions that(20 more words not shown)
- BIf a person(25 more words not shown)
- COnly what is(15 more words not shown)
- DSomeone who acts(24 more words not shown)
- EIf someone wants(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Suppose you shovel snow for an elderly neighbor. You might do it because you feel compassion, or because you think helping is your duty. Either way, your neighbor gets a cleared driveway. I can understand judging the helpful action the same way in both cases.
The ethicist disagrees: helping from compassion deserves more praise than helping entirely from duty. We're also told that people can choose their actions but cannot choose their feelings. Put those claims together. Something outside a person's choice can affect how much praise that person deserves.
What we’re looking for
We don't have to agree with that view to follow its consequences. The question asks which statement cannot be true if the ethicist's statements are true. So an unfamiliar idea isn't enough to make an answer wrong. We need a direct conflict. Keep the connection in view: feelings aren't chosen, yet feelings still affect praiseworthiness.
Working the answers
- A
This is restrictive, but can we show that it conflicts? The ethicist says compassionate treatment merits more praise than treatment motivated entirely by duty. That comparison doesn't require duty alone to earn any positive praise. A system that gives credit only to actions partly motivated by feelings could still rank compassionate help above purely dutiful help.
The passage doesn't establish A, but it doesn't rule it out. That's enough to eliminate it in a question asking for the one statement that cannot be true.
- B
The ethicist discusses treating people well. B adds a different case: compassionate feelings accompany actions that hurt the people affected. The passage doesn't tell us how to judge that situation. It could be that good feelings don't earn praise when the resulting actions harm people.
- CCorrect
C says only things a person can choose should affect the assessment of praise. But the ethicist makes compassion relevant to that assessment and expressly says feelings aren't chosen. C would exclude something the ethicist includes. That is the direct contradiction we're looking for.
- D
Less praise doesn't have to mean no praise. A person helping entirely from duty could deserve praise while a person helping from compassion deserves more. The ethicist's comparison leaves room for D. Be careful not to turn a ranking into an absolute claim that the lower-ranked person deserves none.
- E
Wanting to feel compassion is different from actually feeling it. The ethicist doesn't tell us whether that wish itself deserves praise. Think of someone who wants to care more about others but doesn't experience that feeling. The passage leaves the assessment of that person open, so E could be true.
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