PT153 S2 Q26 ExplanationPeople should patronize businesses

Answer choices, explained

1. A

   Too Weak11% picked this

   Some businesses that have high ethical standards do not actually meet

   We need an objection like "many businesses that perform a notably ethical action are not meeting high ethical standards in general".

   11%
2. B

   Correct45% picked this

   Meeting high ethical standards is primarily a matter of refraining from

   Why this is right

   This is a tough correct answer, but it's helping us to argue that a company that performed a notably ethical action isn't necessarily meeting high ethical standards. It essentially makes the objection that "meeting high ethical standards is about not doing harm, it isn't about doing something nice, like a tree-planting". Our author is thinking that when a company does a notably ethical action, they reveal themselves to be meeting high ethical standards (and so the media should publicize them). This answer is saying "a notably ethical action does not reveal that a company is meeting high ethical standards. We need to judge that by seeing whether they refrain from unethical behavior." If the media's goal is to publicize highly ethical companies, they should go based off whether a business refrains from doing something unethical.

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

   45%
3. C

   Out of Scope: meeting its standards16% picked this

   It is relatively easy for a business to meet its ethical standards if it does not

   The argument doesn't talk about ethical standards as a company by company thing. It's acting like "high ethical standards" is an objective measurement that we can say businesses do or don't meet. This answer would have worked if the argument had said, "People should patronize businesses that meet high ethical standards. And since Company X for 10 years has met the ethical standards they set for themselves, the media should publicize them." We might object that they set really easy standards to meet, and thus aren't necessarily highly ethical.

   16%
4. D

   Out of Scope: more publicized16% picked this

   The news media is more likely to publicize a businessʼs unethical conduct than it is to publicize

   This is a normative argument about what media should do. What they do do in practice is not relevant. It wouldn't make any difference to this argument if the media is currently more likely to publicize bad behavior than good behavior.

   16%
5. E

   Too Weak / No Impact12% picked this

   Some businesses that meet high ethical standards would not do so if they could not remain profitable

   Answers with "some" are almost always wrong on Strengthen / Weaken / Paradox, because some is "at least one", so you really only get one data point with that strength. Either way, it's not relevant to the argument whether companies would abandon high ethical standards were those standards keeping them from being profitable. As long as some companies are meeting high ethical standards, the author's argument can work. He's saying we want to patronize those, so the media should publicize them. The only sticking point is whether "performing a notably ethical action" is a reliable indicator of high ethical standards.

   12%