People who receive unsolicited advice from someone whose advantage would be served if that advice is taken should regard the proffered advice with skepticism unless there is good reason to think that their interests substantially coincide with those of the advice giver in the circumstance in question.
Principle
someone with a vested interest offers you unsolicited advice should regard and → this offered advice there isn't any good with skepticism reason to think that your interests coincide with theirs
Evaluate
Break it down in bite-sized pieces. This is a monster.
Every sentence has a Naming Part and a Telling Part. naming part telling part Sarah stole my spare yarn Clowns who vape filed a class action lawsuit
The telling part starts with the verb. The verb in this sentence is "should regard", and it comes after a long "People who are X" qualifier.
What is unsolicited advice? Think of an example. I'm standing at the donut shop and someone tells me what they think I should order. I'm thinking,
This person's "advantage must be served" if I take their advice. What does that mean? They have to be getting something out of it, if I take their advice.
Maybe the person is the store owner, and she's recommending the most expensive items she offers.
The principle says that I should be skeptical of her advice, unless I have good reason to think that she's pitching a true win-win situation for both of us.
When we have a conditional, but then they tack on an "unless" exception, we do our usual "if-not" translation on the idea that follows the word 'unless'.
On the left (if) side of the arrow, we put the negated (not) version of the idea.
example: If X, then Y, unless Z
translation: X and ~Z → Y
Goal
We're trying to find an answer that uses this principle correctly. It establishes two things in the premise: - unsolicited advice from someone who would gain from you taking the advice - no good reason to think you have mutual interests here
and then a conclusion - we should be skeptical about their advice
Principles can only prove the ideas on their Right sides. So if any of these answers try to conclude that we shouldn't be skeptical, we can eliminate those without reading them.