PrepTest 122, Section 1, Question 14
Laila: Though lying may be unacceptable in most(16 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- AIt is morally(33 more words not shown)
- BIt is morally(24 more words not shown)
- CIt is morally(9 more words not shown)
- DIt is morally(22 more words not shown)
- EIt is morally(25 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Sometimes a lie might protect someone or spare their feelings. But Laila doesn't say every protective or comforting lie is allowed. She gives us a particular test: does the lie bring about more good than harm?
Think of weighing the benefit against the damage. Some harm wouldn't automatically rule out the lie if the benefit were greater. But merely finding a benefit wouldn't be enough either; the harm could outweigh it. We need the comparison, not just a reassuring description of the liar's intentions.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for a judgment that fits Laila's principle. An answer calling a lie permissible should establish that its good outweighs its harm. We can use the information in the answer without substituting our personal approval or disapproval of a lie for her test.
Working the answers
- A
What Marcus plans to do may be harmless, but what about the lie? His parents could be hurt by the deception or lose trust in him. A evaluates the evening's activity without establishing the balance of good and harm produced by lying about it.
- B
This describes whom Lane deceives and whom the lie protects, but it doesn't compare the consequences. There might be a benefit to the friend and harm from misleading the police. We aren't told enough to decide which outweighs the other. Supplying our own moral judgment wouldn't be applying Laila's stated test.
- C
A lie can harm the person it affects even if nobody else is affected. Limiting the consequences to yourself doesn't establish that those consequences are good overall. Laila's principle concerns the balance of good and harm, not the number of people affected.
- DCorrect
The lie helps Thomas and does no harm. That gives us some positive benefit and zero harm, so the good is greater. We don't need an exact measure of the benefit to compare it with no harm at all. Under Laila's principle, that is enough to make this lie morally permissible.
- E
The lie benefits the people deceived but may harm other people. How much benefit, and how much harm? Imagine a small convenience for the people deceived at the cost of serious harm to someone else. The benefit wouldn't automatically win that comparison. E leaves the relative amounts unresolved, while D explicitly removes harm from the comparison.
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