Logical Reasoning

PT157 · S2 · Q21 Essayist: Commitment to relationships or careers

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Essayist: Commitment to relationships or careers is commonly held to be virtuous.

Conclusion

All commitments should be seen as morally neutral.

Evidence (after all)

Something that one is committed to might be either good or bad.

Commitment to a relationship that benefits none of the people involved deserves no praise.

Often, commitment is nothing more than involvement that has outlasted its original justification.

Evaluate

We're trying to conclude that all commitments "should be seen as morally neutral", so we will want an answer structured like,

________ → should be seen as morally neutral

What will go in the trigger spot? Well what do we know about all commitments?

The only premise that seems to apply to all commitments is the idea that what you might be committed to could be good or bad.

(The other premises are about some hypothetical commitments or about a type of commitment that often happens).

Goal

So let's look for something like,

21.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the essayist's reasoning?

  1. Any commitment that is morally

    Reversal

    This answer says, "If a commitment is morally neutral, then ... " We can stop reading at that point. We need an answer that looks like, "If _____ , then morally neutral". You never like an answer that starts, "If [conclusion] ... "

    17% picked this

  2. Commitment to a relationship or

    Weaker Conclusion Match

    This only deserves a cursory glance on our first pass, since it doesn't have the conclusion language we need "should be seen as morally neutral". This is a rule that helps you conclude that something is/isn't virtuous. We need a rule that helps you conclude that something should be seen as morally neutral.

    12% picked this

  3. If a commitment deserves no

    Weaker Conclusion Match

    The Outcome matches our conclusion! Dreamy. Is the trigger something we were told about "all commitments"? Did the evidence say that all commitments deserve no praise. Not quite. Some of them deserve no praise (such as those where people are committed to a relationship that benefits no one involved). So this rule has the power to prove that some commitments should be seen as morally neutral. But we'd hope/expect to find an answer that allows us to say that ALL commitments should be seen as morally neutral.

    13% picked this

  4. If a commitment has outlasted

    Weaker Conclusion Match

    This only deserves a cursory glance on our first pass, since it doesn't have the conclusion language we need "should be seen as morally neutral". This is a rule that helps you conclude that something is/isn't virtuous. We need a rule that helps you conclude that something should be seen as morally neutral.

    18% picked this

  5. Correct

    All commitments are morally neutral

    Why this is right

    This rule says, "if ANY commitments are undeserving of praise, then ALL commitments are morally neutral". We only need one commitment to be undeserving of praise to trigger this rule. We know that some commitments are undeserving of praise (like when you're committed to a relationship that benefits no one). So the evidence establishes the trigger, and the outcome gives us the full conclusion: ALL commitments are morally neutral.

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

    41% picked this

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