PrepTest 159, Section 1, Question 22
Some moral virtues, such as honesty, tend to(28 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(10 more words not shown)
- AA person totally(13 more words not shown)
- BBeing honest tends(7 more words not shown)
- CA morally virtuous(18 more words not shown)
- DBeing generous tends(13 more words not shown)
- EIf a personal(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Honesty is a moral virtue, and a characteristic that tends to harm other people cannot be a moral virtue. Put those two facts together: honesty can't be the kind of characteristic the second statement rules out.
The passage also distinguishes a benefit to yourself from an effect on other people. It says honesty tends to benefit its possessor, while generosity doesn't. I might think generosity can feel rewarding, but this question asks us to accept the given statements. Even so, “doesn't benefit you” isn't the same as “harms you.” It could do neither.
What we’re looking for
That distinction will matter in the choices. We can draw the modest conclusion that the named virtues don't tend to harm others. We can't automatically turn that into claims about how much they benefit others, or about every characteristic that happens to help someone.
Working the answers
- A
A person lacking moral virtue could still have a characteristic that benefits someone else. The passage gives a reason to disqualify a characteristic from being a virtue; it doesn't say all helpful characteristics must be virtues. Nor does it describe everything a person without virtues might do.
- BCorrect
Honesty is explicitly classified as a moral virtue. If it tended to be detrimental to other people, the second statement would disqualify it from that category. So it must not have that tendency. We get B by applying the general restriction to the specific example.
- C
The passage doesn't compare the benefits provided by virtuous and nonvirtuous people. Its rule excludes traits that tend to harm others. That doesn't establish that virtuous people generally do more to help others.
- D
The second half fits: generosity is a moral virtue, so it cannot tend to harm others. The first half goes too far. We're told generosity doesn't tend to benefit its possessor, not that it tends to hurt that person. A neutral effect on the giver would satisfy the given statement while making D false.
- E
Benefiting others isn't stated to be enough for moral virtue. The rule disqualifies characteristics that tend to harm people; it doesn't give a complete test for qualifying as a virtue. A helpful characteristic could fail some other requirement for virtue—or could also have harmful effects.
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