PrepTest 111, Section 4, Question 9
Moralist: Humans have a natural disposition to altruism—that(58 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- AAll moral codes(2 more words not shown)
- BAll moral behavior(4 more words not shown)
- CBehavior must serve(10 more words not shown)
- DNot all altruistic(4 more words not shown)
- EAltruism develops through(4 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why would naturally wanting to help someone stop the action from counting as moral?
My first thought is that the moralist might be distinguishing doing something easily from overcoming a temptation. If I have no desire to drink, abstaining doesn't take the effort it takes someone resisting a strong desire. Perhaps the moralist thinks naturally wanting to help means you don't get the same kind of credit for doing it.
But the explanation the moralist actually gives concerns reason and intention. Moral behavior must be intended to follow a formal set of rules or a moral code. That is different from simply requiring effort. And a naturally helpful act could also be deliberately guided by a code. We haven't been shown that those motives exclude each other.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for the main conclusion, so we can identify the point without accepting all its support. The moralist is trying to establish that some altruistic acts do not count as moral. The claims about reason and a moral code are offered to explain why. Keep 'some' in view: the conclusion doesn't reject every altruistic act.
Working the answers
- A
We aren't told what every moral code prohibits. A code might contain a rule about selfishness, but the passage doesn't establish that all do. The argument concerns whether a natural tendency to help is enough for an action to count as moral, not a universal ban shared by all codes.
- B
This says all moral behavior is motivated by altruism. The argument doesn't make altruism a requirement for every moral act. It argues that altruism alone doesn't ensure an act is moral. Those are different relationships: helping others need not be a feature of every action governed by a moral code.
- C
The moralist doesn't say behavior has to serve other people's needs to be moral. The stated requirement concerns the intention to follow a code. C replaces that requirement with a requirement to help others, which the passage doesn't give us.
- DCorrect
Some altruistic acts fail to count as moral behavior. That is the point the discussion of reason and intention is meant to support. 'Not all' says exactly what we need: at least some are not moral. It leaves room for other altruistic acts to count as moral, rather than ruling them all out.
- E
The passage says reason is essential to moral behavior. It doesn't say altruism develops through reason; instead, it describes a natural disposition toward altruism. E changes the subject from what makes behavior moral to how altruism develops. Neither that account of its development nor E's claim is the conclusion.
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