Self-study
One should not intentionally misrepresent another person's beliefs unless one's purpose in doing so is to act in the interest of that other person.
Summary
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Notable Valid Inferences
If it is acceptable to intentionally misrepresent one’s beliefs, then you must be doing so in their interest.
19.
Which one of the following ███████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████
a
Ann told someone ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ███████████
This must violate the principle. Ann is not acting in Bruce’s interest, but she does misrepresent his beliefs. The sufficient condition of the rule (/person’s interest) is met, but the necessary condition (/intentionally misrepresent) is not, so this violates the rule.
b
Claude told someone ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████
This is consistent with the principle. Claude intentionally represented Thelma’s beliefs, and he did so in her interest.
c
In Maria's absence ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██████
The rule does not apply. In this situation, we don’t know Maria’s true beliefs––we just know that Maria wouldn’t want John to tell people that she thought education should be free. Because of this, we don’t know if John misrepresented her beliefs, intentionally or not.
d
Harvey told Josephine ████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ █ ███████
The rule does not apply. In this situation, Harvey is misrepresenting his own beliefs; the rule applies to situations about misrepresenting another person’s beliefs.
e
Wanda told people ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ ██████████
The rule does not apply. We don’t know whether or not George actually thought Egypt is in Asia, so we don’t know if Wanda was misrepresenting George’s beliefs.