Self-study
Conclusion We have a moral obligation not to destroy books, even if they belong to us. ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████████████
Summary
The author’s argument is simple: we have a moral obligation not to destroy books, because those books will very likely contribute to the enrichment of future generations.
Notable Assumptions
The premise is that books will almost certainly contribute to the enrichment of future generations, and the conclusion is that we have a moral obligation to preserve them. But the stimulus doesn’t tell us anything about what constitutes a moral obligation. For all we know, we don’t have any moral obligation to think about the future. The argument just assumes that if something will contribute to the enrichment of future generations, we have a moral obligation to preserve it.
14.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████████
a
It is morally █████████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ████████ ██████
(A) would strengthen the argument, but it’s not the principle underlying the argument. Even if (A) was false, the argument could still be true. For instance, the argument would still work if we only have a moral obligation to help future generations, not all other people.
b
We are morally █████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████████████ ███ █████████ ███████████
We don’t know whether past generations preserved books for us. It could be that past generations often destroyed books, but that we have an obligation to preserve them.
c
The moral commitments ██ ████ ██ ██████ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████
The argument isn’t comparing our moral commitments to future generations with our moral commitments to the present generation. It’s just saying we have a moral obligation to the future — not saying that obligation is stronger than our obligation to the present.
d
We are morally █████████ ███ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██████████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██████████
This is the key principle. Without (D), it could be that we don’t have any moral obligation to future generations. (D) tells us that we do, and bridges the premise that books will enrich future generations with the conclusion that we have a moral obligation to preserve them.
e
Being morally obligated ███ ██ ███████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████
The argument concludes that we are morally obligated to not destroy books. (E) just gives a necessary condition for having this moral obligation. It doesn’t explain why, if books will enrich future generations, we shouldn’t destroy them.