Jack’s aunt gave him her will,

Answer choices

1. A

   Opposite, if anything2% picked this

   Duties to family members take priority over duties to people who are

   Jack's aunt is his family member, and he has a duty to keep his promise to her, so if duties to family members take priority over everything, then he must make the will public. He doesn't have any duty to break his promise and make the money benefit his mom instead.

   2%
2. B

   Opposite, if anything1% picked this

   Violating a promise is impermissible whenever doing so would become known

   We don't have any information that would trigger this rule, but if it were triggered (if keeping the will private would be come known by others), it would do the opposite of what we want. This answer is leaning towards the "Jack should keep his promise and make the will public" choice, but we need an answer that supports the "break the promise and let mom get the money" choice.

   1%
3. C

   Weak Match29% picked this

   One must choose an alternative that benefits some and harms no one over an alternative that harms some

   This is very close. The choice to "break promise and let mom get money" would benefit some and harm no one. But do we know that the choice to "keep promise and let George get money" would harm some and benefit no one? We know that it would benefit no one, but it's never established that letting George squander this money would harm anyone.

   29%
4. D

   Correct61% picked this

   When faced with alternatives it is obligatory to choose whichever one will benefit the greatest

   Why this is right

   This rule does indeed force Jack to choose the "break promise, let mom have money" option. That option "benefits Mom and others", whereas the "keep promise, let George have money" option will "benefit neither George nor anyone else". So if Jack is following this rule, then it is obligatory that he chooses not to make the will public, so that the money goes to his Mom instead of George, so that the greatest number of people benefit.

   Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   61%
5. E

   Too Weak6% picked this

   A promise becomes nonbinding when the person to whom the promise was made is

   This answer choice does more than nothing --- it absolves Jack of worrying about his promise. It's now a nonbinding issue. Nonbinding doesn't mean meaningless. Governments pass nonbinding resolutions that they hope will be followed, even if they aren't going to prosecute rulebreakers (a lot of COVID mask ordinances were nonbinding). So Jack isn't bound by this promise to his aunt, now that she's dead. But, he might still be influenced by it. He might voluntarily want to follow through with his promise, even if it's nonbinding now. The question stem asked for a principle that would force Jack to keep the will private and let his mom get the money. This rule does not force Jack to do anything.

   6%