Self-study
Activities that pose risks to life are acceptable if and only if each person who bears the risks either gains some net benefit that cannot be had without such risks, or bears the risks voluntarily.
Summary
“if and only if” makes the principle a biconditional relationship. This means if one side of the relationship is true, the other must be true as well. And if one side is false, the other must be false.
Domain: activities that pose a risk to life
Acceptable < — > each person who is put at risk either gains a net benefit that they can’t get without the risk, or they bear the risk voluntarily
OR
NOT acceptable < — > NOT everyone who is put at risk either gains a net benefit that they can’t get without the risk or bears the risk voluntarily
Find or Complete the Application
The correct answer will involve an activity that poses a risk to life. In addition, the correct answer will either:
(1) conclude that the activity is NOT acceptable because at least one person who is put at risk neither gains a net benefit that cannot be had without the risk nor bears the risk voluntarily
(2) conclude that the activity IS acceptable because everyone who is put at risk either gains a net benefit that cannot be had without such risks or bears the risk voluntarily
18.
Which one of the following █████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████
a
A door-to-door salesperson ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ████ █ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████
We do not know whether other people who are put at risk by the person’s decision gain a net benefit or bear the risk voluntarily. So we cannot conclude that the person’s action is acceptable.
b
A smoker subjects ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ████████
We do not know whether the people who are subject to the secondhand smoke accept the risk voluntarily or experience a net benefit from the smoke. So we cannot conclude that the person’s action is acceptable.
c
A motorcyclist rides ███████ █ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████████
It’s reasonable to think that the motorcyclist’s decision not to wear a helmet risks only the motorcyclist’s own life, and not the lives of others. And because the motorcyclist bears the risk voluntarily, the principle allows us to conclude that the motorcyclist’s decision is acceptable.
d
Motor vehicles are ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████
We do not know whether the people who are subject to the pollution accept the risk voluntarily or experience a net benefit from the pollution. So we cannot conclude that the the motor vehicles’ pollution is acceptable.
e
A nation requires ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████
The principle concerns activities “that pose risks to life.” So we cannot conclude anything about circumstances that do not involve a risk to life.