Self-study
Ethicist: It is morally right to reveal a secret only if one has a legal obligation to do so and will not harm oneself by doing so. ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ██████ █ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ██ ██ ███ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████
Summary
Domain: revealing a secret
(1) If you don’t have legal obligation to reveal OR you will harm yourself by revealing → NOT morally right to reveal
(2) If you promised not to reveal AND if revealing is likely to harm others → morally wrong to reveal
Find or Complete the Application
We’re looking for either of the following:
A conclusion that it’s NOT morally right to reveal a secret. The evidence will either establish that there’s no legal obligation to reveal OR that one will hurt themselves by revealing.
A conclusion that it’s morally wrong to reveal a secret. The evidence will establish that someone promised not to reveal AND that revealing is likely to hurt someone else.
21.
The principles cited by the ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Kathryn revealed a ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████
Kathryn had no legal obligation to reveal the secret. So, it wasn’t morally right to reveal the secret. (A) validly uses the first principle.
b
Jae admitted in ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ █ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████
Unreachable conclusion. Neither principle allows us to conclude that an action is morally right. (And no, the contrapositive of the first principle doesn’t allow us to conclude that something is morally right. The contrapositive of the first principle tells us that IF it’s morally right to reveal a secret then .... That never helps us prove that something is morally right. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)
c
A doctor informed ████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ █████████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████
Doesn’t trigger the second principle. We don’t know that Judy promised not to reveal the secret. We also don’t know that revealing the secret was “likely” to harm her father.
d
Phil was arrested ███ ████ ███████ ███ █████ █████████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████
Unreachable conclusion. Neither principle allows us to conclude that an action is morally right. (And no, the contrapositive of the first principle doesn’t allow us to conclude that something is morally right. The contrapositive of the first principle tells us that IF it’s morally right to reveal a secret then .... That never helps us prove that something is morally right. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)
e
After writing a █████ █████ █ ████████ █████████ ████████ █ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████
Unreachable conclusion. Neither principle allows us to conclude that an action is morally right. (And no, the contrapositive of the first principle doesn’t allow us to conclude that something is morally right. The contrapositive of the first principle tells us that IF it’s morally right to reveal a secret then .... That never helps us prove that something is morally right. If you think it does, you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)