PrepTest 121, Section 1, Question 4

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  This concerns whether a police officer should act on information already obtained illegally. Our principle concerns disapproval of discovering truths because they are unwelcome or potentially harmful. It doesn't tell us what an officer may do with illegally obtained evidence, so A introduces a different question.

• B
  Correct

  Scientific research can uncover truths that later have harmful uses, including more sophisticated weapons. B says that possibility should not lead us to restrict the research. That matches the philosopher's defense of discovering truths even when the discoveries could produce harmful effects.

• C

  This is about whether to disclose a known truth to a patient, and it allows withholding the news when the consequences could be harmful. The philosopher instead defends unearthing truths despite possible harm. C both changes the action under consideration and gives the harmful consequence a limiting role that the stated principle does not give it.

• D

  This is tempting because investigative journalism involves uncovering information, and the answer discusses moral disapproval. But its defense depends on disclosure doing more good than suppression. The philosopher doesn't require a favorable balance of good over harm before defending discovery. D also introduces illegal methods, which the principle doesn't address. We shouldn't turn a defense against one objection into approval of every means of obtaining information.

• E

  This allows a poem to depart from the truth because provoking a response is what matters. It isn't a defense of discovering truths we dislike or fear. The answer concerns artistic accuracy, not whether harmful consequences justify disapproving of a discovery.