Logical Reasoning

PT128 · S2 · Q16 Laurel: Modern moral theories must

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Laurel: Modern moral theories must be jettisoned, or at least greatly reworked, because they fail to provide guidance in extreme cases, which are precisely the times when people most need guidance.

Laurel's Claims

1. Modern moral theories must be ditched or revised

2. Modern moral theories fail to provide guidance in extreme cases.

3. Extreme cases are precisely when people need the most guidance.

assumption 4. If fails to provide guidance in cases when people need the most guidance, then must be ditched or revised

Miriam's Responses

1. DISAGREE? She seems to be defending moral theories in general, as having a low bar for being acceptable, so she would probably resist the idea that we need to ditch / revise modern moral theories.

2. NO COMMENT. She doesn't specifically comment on whether modern theories fail to cover extreme cases.

3. NO COMMENT. She doesn't discuss in what cases people most need guidance.

4. DISAGREES? She seems to be saying that even if a theory fails to provide guidance for some cases, that doesn't mean it sucks and we need to ditch/revise it. She's saying

Goal

It looks like the disagreement is over moral theories in general, in terms of whether we find them acceptable or not.:

- do they need to cover all cases (esp the ones where people most need guidance)?

- or do they just need to cover a wide variety of common cases?

16.

Laurel's and Miriam's statements provide the most support for the claim that they disagree about whether

  1. it is preferable to develop

    Nobody Disagrees

    This is definitely something Laurel believes, but wouldn't Miriam also agree to this? Can we derive from Miriam's claims that, "a moral theory that solves all moral dilemmas isn't preferable to a moral theory that leaves some moral dilemmas unsolved"? No. She's saying that all we NEED is a wide variety of dilemmas solved, but that doesn't mean that solving all dilemmas wouldn't be preferable. I might only need $5k a month to survive, but that doesn't mean that more than $5k wouldn't be preferable. Miriam is just saying "the fact that a theory can't solve all moral dilemmas isn't a good reason to trash it."

    6% picked this

  2. people abandoned earlier moral theories

    Nobody Agrees / Out of Scope (abandoned)

    We couldn't derive from either paragraph that people abandoned earlier moral theories (or why). Laurel is potentially ready to abandon modern moral theories, but that doesn't mean it's ever been done before.

    0% picked this

  3. Correct

    a moral theory's adequacy depends

    Why this is right

    This is Laurel's position. By contrapositive, "If you don't provide guidance in extreme cases, then not an adequate theory (and thus need to be ditched or revised)". Meanwhile, Miriam disagrees, "Even if you don't provide guidance in extreme cases, you could still be an adequate theory (all we need from you is that you're useful in a wide variety of common circumstances)."

    Skill tested: Agree/Disagree · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    90% picked this

  4. just as people need different

    Nobody Agrees (different overcoats)

    Wow, this one took me by surprise. :) Neither person was talking about needing different overcoats in different climates.

    1% picked this

  5. a moral theory developed in

    Trap

    Nobody Agrees / Out of Scope (developed for extreme) Neither speaker was talking about moral theories that were developed in light of extreme cases. Laurel is talking about modern moral theories, which apparently weren't developed in light of extreme cases because they fail to provide guidance on those. Miriam just talks about moral theories in general.

    2% picked this

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