Ethicist: As a function of

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct56% picked this

   A teacher thinks that a certain student has received the course grade merited by the quality of his work. The teacher should fulfill her

   Why this is right

   The teacher's duty is to leave the deserved grade as is. She does not have overwhelming evidence that there will be disastrous consequences of doing that duty (she thinks that leaving the lower grade might harm the student's chance at an internship). So she should fulfill her duty, just as it says.

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

   56%
2. B

   Opposite Conclusion4% picked this

   A person should not fulfill his duty to tell his friend the truth about the friend’s new haircut, because lying will make the

   This one can be immediately rejected because it's trying to use a rule that lets you conclude "you should fulfill your duty" in order to conclude the opposite conclusion of "you should not fulfill your duty". There's no need to read beyond that part.

   4%
3. C

   Opposite Conclusion5% picked this

   A police investigator discovers that a contractor has slightly overcharged wealthy customers in order to lower rates for a charity. The investigator should not

   This one can be immediately rejected because it's trying to use a rule that lets you conclude "you should fulfill your duty" in order to conclude the opposite conclusion of "the investigator should not fulfill your duty".

   5%
4. D

   Competing Duties19% picked this

   A psychiatrist’s patient tells her about his recurring nightmares of having committed a terrible crime. The psychiatrist should fulfill her duty to report this

   This has the correct conclusion of "should fulfill duty". Do we know that there is no overwhelming evidence that disastrous harm will not come from fulfilling this duty? Does this tell us what would happen if she fulfilled her duty to report this patient to authorities? Not really. We only know that it would violate her competing duty of patient confidentiality. The principle didn't give us a way to judge with duty we should fulfill and which one we shouldn't, when there are competing duties going head to head. This same principle could be used here to say "she should fulfill her duty to report to the authorities" as could be used to say "she should not report to the authorities because she should fulfill her duty to maintain patient confidentiality".

   19%
5. E

   Opposite Conclusion16% picked this

   A journalist thinks there is a slight chance that a story about a developing crisis will endanger innocent lives. Therefore, the journalist should await

   This one can be rejected because it's conveying that the journalist should not fulfill her duty to file the story. She should wait for more developments, which means she shouldn't yet file the story.

   16%