Self-study
A certain moral system holds that performing good actions is praiseworthy only when one overcomes a powerful temptation in order to perform them. ███ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██ █████████ █████████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why does this moral system recognize some habitual actions as praiseworthy if actions can only be praiseworthy when they result from overcoming strong temptation?
Objective
A hypothesis reconciling this conflict must provide evidence that some habitual actions can be performed only after overcoming a powerful temptation.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ██████
a
People who perform ████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████
This explains why habitual actions can be praiseworthy. Though the actions may not require overcoming temptation in the moment, they result from overcoming temptation over an extended period.
b
Most people face ██████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████
This strengthens the conflict. If few people endure temptation regularly, then their habitual actions rarely or never involve overcoming temptation, and thus should not be praiseworthy.
c
People virtually always ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████
This does not explain how habitual actions can involve overcoming temptation. It addresses the requirement that praiseworthy actions be good, but does not address the primary conflict—that habitual actions can sometimes be praiseworthy.
d
Since it is █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ █ ██████ ██ ████████
This explains why habitual actions may sometimes be praised, but not why they are praiseworthy. If a person is incorrectly believed to have overcome temptation, the moral system described would not consider their actions praiseworthy based on that misconception.
e
It is far ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ██ ███████ ██████ ███████████
This explains the prevalence of certain actions without addressing the moral issue at hand. If people rarely perform good actions against strong temptation, then there is rarely reason to praise those actions.