PrepTest 143, Section 2, Question 15
Passage A Saint Augustine wrote that to proceed(489 more words not shown)
Passage A(250 more words not shown)
Passage B(247 more words not shown)
Both passages are concerned with(7 more words not shown)
- ACan immoral actions(2 more words not shown)
- BShould the same(9 more words not shown)
- CIs it right(13 more words not shown)
- DWhat is the(7 more words not shown)
- EIs it just(7 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Both accounts ask how to respond to someone who has treated others badly. A uses lying: does a liar's conduct justify lying back? B considers wrongdoing more generally: does rationally chosen conduct authorize or require the same treatment in return?
What we’re looking for
We want that shared question about responding in kind. The authors can answer it differently while still addressing the same issue.
Working the answers
- A
A gives us a harmless pathological liar, so harmless wrongdoing does appear. But neither account centers on whether immoral actions can be harmless, and B does not develop that question. A uses harmlessness to test the justification for retaliation.
- B
Neither compares rules for moral wrongs with rules for criminal wrongs. Discussion of punishment does not by itself create a comparison between those two categories.
- CCorrect
This captures the common issue: whether someone's wrongdoing makes a similar response right. A considers lying to liars, while B examines the permission generated by rational people's treatment of others.
- D
The difference between permission and obligation matters to B. A's central distinction concerns the offender's claim and the justification for responding, so the right-versus-duty question does not describe both accounts.
- E
Rational agency is central to B's argument. A does not ask whether all wrongdoers should be treated as rational beings; it asks whether the liar's conduct gives sufficient reason to lie back.
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