Self-study
Philosopher: We should not disapprove of the unearthing of truths that we would rather not acknowledge or that, by their dissemination, might influence society in pernicious ways.
Summary
We shouldn’t be opposed to seeking out new information, even if that knowledge could have harmful effects.
Find or Complete the Application
We need to find the correct application of this principle. We’re looking for a situation where seeking out new information could have bad consequences, but it’s okay to do so.
4.
Which one of the following ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████
a
A law enforcement ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ █████████ ████████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ████████
Our principle is about seeking out new information, whereas (A) is about acting on information that already exists. (A) also specifies that the information would help society, and we’re looking for a situation where it’s okay to seek new information even if it hurts society.
b
Scientific research should ███ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ █████████████ ████████
Even though the research could harm society by leading to new, dangerous weaponry, it’s okay to pursue. This matches our principle—It’s okay to seek out new information even if it could hurt society.
c
A physician should █████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ █ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █████ █████████████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████████
Our principle is about seeking out new information, whereas (C) is about telling someone information that already exists. (C) also implies that potential bad effects could be a valid reason to withhold information.
d
Investigative journalists who ██████ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████████████
We need a situation where it’s okay to seek out new information even if that information could be harmful. (D) tells us it’s okay to seek out new information, but only if that information is helpful, which runs counter to our principle.
e
A poem need ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████ █████████████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ █ ████████ ██ ███ ███████
Our principle is about seeking out new information, whereas (E) is about whether poems should be truthful. It also makes no mention of any potential harmful consequences—a key part of what we need in our right answer.