Logical Reasoning

PT105 · S4 · Q21 Ethicist: A person who treats

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Ethicist: A person who treats others well is more worthy of praise if this treatment is at least partially motivated by feelings of compassion than if it is entirely motivated by cold and dispassionate concern for moral obligation.

Statements

Conditional (if = sufficient, LEFT of arrow) treating others well more worthy when at least partially → of praise motivated by compassion

(In more conversational terms, this rule says that being nice to others out of some clinical, dispassionate obedience to moral obligation is less praiseworthy than being nice to others with some feelings of compassion on top.)

We give extra praise to those who feel compassion while treating others well, even though one can't choose whether to have feelings (meanwhile, they can choose to treat others well in the first place).

Evaluate

We typically see two patterns for the correct answer on Must Be False: 1. it contradicts a conditional rule presented 2. it contradicts an available inference we can make by combining claims

The first sentence was a conditional rule.

By combining the first and second sentence, we could infer something like, .

Goal

Look for an answer contradicting the conditional (match the trigger, but don't deliver the outcome): X treats others well, but feels nothing doing so. Y treats others well, in part because Y feels compassion. X deserves at least as much praise as Y.

Or look for an answer contradicting our inference, something like, .

21.

If the ethicist's statements are true, then each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

  1. Only actions that are at

    Compatible

    This seems to go along with the gist of the paragraph, since it's associating praise with actions that are at least partially motivated by feelings. It would be correct if it said "only actions that are under a person's control should be used", because that would contradict the inference we made.

    9% picked this

  2. If a person feels compassion

    Compatible

    This doesn't contradict our conditional or our available inference. It's compatible with the passage that when people's actions diminish the welfare of other people, we don't praise that person.

    8% picked this

  3. Correct

    Only what is subject to

    Why this is right

    This contradicts the inference we can make by combining the two sentences we were given. Fact 1: we measure a person as more praiseworthy if they have feelings of compassion that partially motivate their kind actions. Fact 2: they can't choose whether to have those feelings Inference: we sometimes measure a person as more praiseworthy for something they can't choose Meanwhile, this answer is contradicting that, saying that we only use stuff that people can choose to do, when measuring their praiseworthiness.

    Skill tested: Must be False · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    61% picked this

  4. Someone who acts without feelings

    Compatible

    This is about whether or not the person is worthy of praise. This paragraph wasn't ever talking in Absolute, yes/no language (do you or don't you deserve praise). The paragraph was about Relative amounts of praiseworthiness (more deserving / less deserving). Since the paragraph wasn't talking about this, this answer can't contradict the paragraph.

    12% picked this

  5. If someone wants to have

    Compatible

    This is about whether or not the person is worthy of praise. This paragraph wasn't ever talking in Absolute, yes/no language (do you or don't you deserve praise). The paragraph was about Relative amounts of praiseworthiness (more deserving / less deserving). Since the paragraph wasn't talking about this, this answer can't contradict the paragraph.

    10% picked this

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