Self-study
Food company engineer: Conclusion I stand by my decision to order the dumping of small amounts of chemicals into the local river even though there is some evidence that this material may pose health problems. █ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████████████ █ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ████ █████████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ █████
Summary
The author concludes that the decision to order dumping of small amounts of chemical into the local river was justified.
Why?
Because the author himself fishes in the river and will continue to do after the dumping. In addition, he would not object if other food manufacturers also dump small amounts of chemicals in the river.
Notable Assumptions
Notice that the conclusion involves a value judgment — that the decision was justified. But the premises don’t tell us when a decision is justified. We need a principle that will connect the premises to the idea that the decision to order dumping of chemicals in the river was justified. For example:
If one will be personally affected by an action and accepts the consequences, then one’s taking the action is justified.
or
If one would not object if others took the same kind of action, then one’s taking the action is justified.
4.
The engineer's reasoning most closely ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
a
One is justified ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████
Wrong trigger. The premises do not establish that other people are also planning to dump chemicals into the river.
b
One should always ██████ ██ ███ ██ █ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████
Wrong trigger. The premises do not establish that ordering the dumping of chemicals into the river will benefit the greatest number of people. So (B) does not justify the action.
c
One is justified ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████
Builds a bridge from the premises to the conclusion. The premises establish that the author is willing to submit to the consequences of the action performed by himself or by others (because he’s willing to keep using the river after dumping and would be OK if others also dumped). (C), then, allows us to conclude that the dumping is justified.
d
One should never ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ███████
Leads to wrong conclusion. (D) is designed to lead to a conclusion that one should not perform an action. But we’re trying to prove that the action is justified. In any case, we also don’t know whether the author has analyzed “all” the ways in which the act could impact others.
e
One has the █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ █████
Having the “right” to do something is not the same as being justified in doing the action. In addition, we don’t know that dumping the chemicals in the river will not harm anyone else.