PrepTest 125, Section 4, Question 17
Ethicist: An action is wrong if it violates(56 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AAmelia's society has(42 more words not shown)
- BJordan lives in(36 more words not shown)
- CElgin obeys a(28 more words not shown)
- DDahlia always has(28 more words not shown)
- EEdward's society requires(38 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Breaking a rule isn't enough. What kind of rule did the person break?
The ethicist's first principle has two parts: the action violates a society's rule, and that rule promotes people's general welfare. When both are true, the action is wrong under this principle. Don't stop reading after 'violates a rule' and apply the judgment to every rule imaginable.
The second principle works on the other side. If a welfare-promoting rule requires an action, that action is right. Notice that both principles concern rules that help society. They haven't told us how to judge a harmful rule or a rule that makes no difference to welfare.
What we’re looking for
We're asked which judgment fits these principles. For each choice, check what the rule does for society and whether the action violates it or is required by it. Our own opinion about the action can't replace one of those conditions.
Working the answers
- A
This may give Amelia a sympathetic motive, but the stated principle doesn't create an exception for that motive. Her lie violates a rule, and the answer says that rule promotes general welfare. Both conditions for calling the action wrong are met. A calls it not wrong anyway, so its judgment conflicts with the principle.
- B
'Not detrimental' means the rule doesn't harm general welfare. That isn't the same as promoting it. A ceremonial food rule could make no difference either way. We need a welfare-promoting rule to apply the first principle; B gives only an absence of harm.
- C
This concerns obeying a harmful rule. The ethicist's principles don't tell us how to classify that situation. We might have our own reason to criticize Elgin, but we can't get this judgment merely by applying rules that concern actions required or forbidden by welfare-promoting rules.
- D
Not violating a rule doesn't establish that a welfare-promoting rule requires the action. Coffee before getting dressed could simply be a permitted personal habit. The second principle calls an action right when a qualifying rule requires it. D supplies neither that requirement nor the rule's contribution to welfare.
- ECorrect
The society requires children to care for their aged parents, and this rule promotes general welfare. Edward's caring for his aged parents therefore meets both conditions in the second principle: the action is required, and the rule requiring it promotes welfare. Calling his action right applies that principle directly.
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