Self-study
Ethicist: People who avoid alcoholic beverages simply because they regard them as a luxury beyond their financial means should not be praised for their abstinence. ██████████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ████████████████ ██ █████ ████████
Summary
The ethicist doesn’t make an argument, just states two unsupported claims:
If people avoid alcohol just because they can’t afford it, then those people should not be praised for abstinence.
If people avoid alcohol just because they don’t want to drink, then those people should only be praised for abstinence if their lack of desire comes from a difficult process of self-discipline.
Notable Assumptions
Because the ethicist doesn’t actually make an argument but just states some claims, we can justify these claims with a principle which can act as a premise and provide support.
A principle which can support both claims will tell us that it is not praiseworthy to abstain from alcohol that one can afford, simply due to a lack of desire that doesn’t involve arduous self-discipline.
21.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████
a
Whether behavior should ██ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████
This isn’t concrete enough to support the claims that abstinence from alcohol due to unaffordability or lack of desire isn’t praiseworthy, and so can’t justify the ethicist’s claims.
b
A person should ██ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████
The ethicist’s claims don’t involve any discussion of whether a person should be blamed for something, just whether actions are praiseworthy. This doesn’t discuss praiseworthiness, so doesn’t support those claims.
c
A person is ████████████ ███ █ ██████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██ ████████ █ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███
In other words, if a person didn’t overcome a desire to drink affordable alcohol in order to abstain from alcohol, then her or his abstinence is not praiseworthy. This supports—or justifies—both of the ethicist’s claims.
d
The extent to █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████████████ ██ ███████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████
This still doesn’t tell us when abstinence from alcohol can be praiseworthy or not, so can’t support the ethicist’s claims.
e
The apportionment of ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████
The ethicist isn’t concerned with praise and blame in general, just with two particular cases where abstaining from alcohol is apparently not praiseworthy. This doesn’t give us enough specifics to support the ethicist’s claims about those particular cases.