Self-study
Ethicist: An action is wrong if it violates a rule of the society in which the action is performed and that rule promotes the general welfare of people in the society. ██ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████████
Summary
We’re given two conditional statements governing whether an action is right or wrong:
(1) If an action violates a rule of society and that rule helps society, then the action is wrong.
(2) If an action follows a rule of society and that rule helps society, then the action is right. 
Find or Complete the Application
We need to find the correct application of these principles. The principles can support conclusions about when an action is right or wrong, but we must have the appropriate triggers.
To conclude that an action is wrong, we need to know that it violates a rule of society, and that the rule is good for society. We don’t know if it’s ever wrong to obey a rule.
To conclude that an action is right, we need to know that it obeys a rule of society, and that the rule is good for society. We don’t know if it’s ever right to violate a rule.
17.
Which one of the following █████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Amelia's society has █ ████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ █████
Wrong conclusion. Amelia’s action violates a rule, and the rule is good for society. This satisfies the sufficient conditions of premise (1), so her action is wrong.
b
Jordan lives in █ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ██████
Wrong trigger. To prove an action is wrong, we need to prove that it violates a rule that helps society. The rule that Jordan violates doesn’t hurt society, but we also don’t know if it helps, so we can’t prove his action is wrong.
c
Elgin obeys a ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████
Wrong trigger. We can only prove that it’s wrong to violate a rule. We don’t know if it’s ever wrong to obey one.
d
Dahlia always has █ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██████
Wrong trigger. We can only prove it’s right to follow a rule. Dahlia doesn’t violate any rules, but we also don’t know if she is following any.
e
Edward's society requires ████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
Edward satisfies the second sufficient condition of premise (2), since the rule requiring children to take care of their parents helps society. Therefore, if he obeys this rule, we can validly conclude that his action is right.
