Self-study
The publisher of a best-selling self-help book had, in some promotional material, claimed that it showed readers how to become exceptionally successful. ██ ███████ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ █ █████ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████ █████
Summarize Argument
We shouldn’t consider the publisher’s false claim (about promising exceptional results to readers) to be unethical. Why not? Because everyone knows that, by definition, it’s impossible for many people to achieve an “exceptional” result. (If it’s exceptional, it must be rare!)
Notable Assumptions
The author makes two key assumptions:
(1) That the publisher expected the book to be read by many people. (If the publisher didn’t think many people would actually read the book, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s impossible to promise exceptional results to many people.)
(2) That if everyone knows that a claim can’t possibly be true, it’s not unethical to make that false claim.
We’re looking for a principle that strengthens. Principles are often conditional rules, so an answer that supplies assumption (2), or its contrapositive, is a good prediction.
25.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████
a
Knowingly making a █████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ██ █████
Everyone knows that the book can’t achieve for many people what the publisher claims it can. So, it’s not very reasonable for people to accept that claim. This triggers the contrapositive of (A), leading to the author’s conclusion: the claim isn’t unethical.
b
Knowingly making a █████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ █ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████
This tells us when knowingly making a false claim is unethical. But we want to support the conclusion that knowingly making such a claim is not unethical. So (B) can’t help us.
c
Knowingly making a █████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██████ █ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████████
For this to support the conclusion, we’d first need to fail the necessary condition, thus triggering the contrapositive. But the premise is silent on this necessary condition. We don’t know whether anyone suffers hardship.
d
Knowingly making a █████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ █ ███████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████
For (D) to work, the premise would need to suggest that there’s no chance anyone will act as if the publisher’s promise might be true. This would trigger the contrapositive. But the premise tells us what all people know, not how all people act on that knowledge.
e
Knowingly making a █████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████
This tells us when knowingly making a false claim is unethical. But we want to support the conclusion that knowingly making such a claim is not unethical. So (E) can’t help us.