PrepTest 127, Section 2, Question 16
In order to expand its mailing lists for(50 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(12 more words not shown)
- AIt is unethical(21 more words not shown)
- BIf it would(24 more words not shown)
- CIt is an(19 more words not shown)
- DIt is unethical(16 more words not shown)
- EProviding a friend's(24 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Giving a company my own email address is one thing. Giving it a friend's address in return for money raises a different concern: my friend might not appreciate receiving advertisements because I sold access to them. I can see how that could strain a relationship.
Still, 'exploit' is a strong description. Perhaps a friend actually wants information about the company's products and would welcome the referral. We shouldn't automatically import every negative association with unwanted email. The argument gives us a particular concern to work with: the incentives encourage behavior that risks damaging personal relationships.
What we’re looking for
The conclusion calls the company's practice unethical. What connects the risk to that ethical judgment? The principle question asks for a rule that helps justify this reasoning. I would look for a rule against encouraging people to do something that could harm their relationships. That would connect the company's incentives with the conclusion about its conduct.
Working the answers
- A
This makes the customer's exploitation of a relationship unethical. But the conclusion criticizes the company for offering the incentive. A rule about the person who supplies the address doesn't by itself establish the ethics of another party's encouraging that behavior. Keep track of whose action the conclusion evaluates.
- B
To use this rule, we would need to establish that using the gathered information would be unethical. The passage doesn't supply that premise. Its stated objection concerns the risk to customers' relationships created by the incentive, not an independently established prohibition on using the addresses.
- C
Deliberately damaging a relationship is stronger than deliberately offering an incentive that creates a risk of damage. The company may want more email addresses without wanting any friendship to suffer. C therefore requires an intention the evidence doesn't establish.
- DCorrect
The company encourages behavior that could damage customers' personal relationships. D says encouraging that kind of behavior is unethical. The rule applies to the company's action and to the risk described, so it directly supports the conclusion that offering these incentives is an unethical practice.
- E
This makes harm to the relationship much more likely than the stated risk. But increasing our confidence that damage will occur still doesn't supply the ethical rule connecting that damage to the company's conduct. We need to know why encouraging this behavior is unethical, which D addresses.
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