Logical reasoning PrepTest 122 · Section 1 · Question 14

Incorrect. There's no indication whether the lie will do more good than harm. First, what he's doing is established as not being bad, but that doesn't mean it does more good than harm. Even if it did, that doesn't mean the lie would do more good than harm.

Incorrect. This situation doesn't discuss good outweighing harm—if anything, it suggests otherwise!

Incorrect. Such a lie could still do more harm than good—you could seriously harm yourself if you fail to recognize certain truths!

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Must Be True (Principle)

Stimulus Summary:
Lying does more good than harm → Morally permissible

Answer Anticipation:
Must Be True (Principle) questions generally present one or two conditionals with judgments made, and we need to find an answer that follows that conditional. In other words, we need an answer that establishes the sufficient condition and then concludes the necessary condition.

Here, the opening statement isn't going to provide the basis for a correct answer—it's too weak in stating that lying is unacceptable in most" cases. We can't apply that to a specific case, because that case may or may not be usual.

However, the exception is unequivocal—any time lying does more good than harm, it's morally permissible. We can apply that to specific cases, and so we should look for an answer where a lie does more good than harm with a conclusion that it was therefore morally permissible to lie.

Answer Explanation:
This answer establishes that Debra's lie would do no harm while helping Thomas, so it does more good than harm (some help vs. no harm). This meets the sufficient condition of the principle, and thus allows the conclusion to be drawn that this lie is morally permissible, making this the right answer.

Key Takeaway:
Must Be True (Principle) questions generally present conditional principles that should be diagrammed and then compared to the answer choices. You're looking for one that establishes the sufficient condition and then concludes the necessary condition.

Incorrect. The lie in this answer does both good and harm, and there's no indication which is greater, so the sufficient condition of the principle isn't necessarily met. We therefore can't validly conclude anything about moral permissibility (other than the lie might be morally permissible), so this answer is incorrect.