PrepTest 152

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Must Be True (Principle)

Stimulus Summary:
Morally right to tell a secret → Legal obligation AND not Harm oneself
Promised not to reveal AND Likely to harm → Morally wrong to tell a secret

Answer Anticipation:
First, note that something not being morally right doesn't make it morally wrong, and vice versa—something can be morally neutral.

With that out of the way, we need to get these principles lined up with their "matching" judgments on the necessary side (because almost every answer choice will describe a scenario and then conclude whether the telling of a secret is morally right or wrong). The matching judgments here is the moral judgment, so the second conditional is already in the right form, but the first isn't, so let's take the contrapositive:

(1) not Legal obligation OR Harm oneself → not Morally right to tell a secret
(2) Promised not to reveal AND Likely to harm → Morally wrong to tell a secret

And, finally, before heading to the answers, we should just be clear that the only answers we can select are ones that have an answer that something isn't morally right or is morally wrong. There's nothing sufficient to justify a conclusion that something is morally right or isn't morally wrong, so we can rule those out immediately.

Answer Explanation:
The conclusion here is that Kathryn's action wasn't morally right, which is a conclusion we could support if it meets the sufficient conditions of conditional #1. And, despite the rest of the information, since Kathryn wasn't under a legal obligation to reveal the secret, the sufficient condition of principle #1 is met and this answer, therefore, is justified based on the Ethicist's principles.

Key Takeaway:
For these Principle (Must Be True) questions, make sure you get the conditionals right, and you get the "matching" judgments in the necessary condition side. Once there, you'll know what conclusions can be justified by the principles, and, with that information, you can usually quickly eliminate 2-4 answer choices. Here, we got 3 answers eliminated just by noting that there was no principle justifying a conclusion that an action was morally right.

Incorrect. There's no principle provided that establishes that an action is morally right, so we can immediately rule this answer choice out.

Incorrect. The conclusion here is that Judy's action was morally wrong, which can be justified by principle #2 if the sufficient conditions are met. However, Judy neither made a promise to the doctor, nor does the answer establish the revelation is likely to cause harm (just that it sometimes does), so this answer doesn't feature an argument justified by the stimulus.

Incorrect. There's no principle provided that establishes that an action is morally right, so we can immediately rule out another answer choice!

Incorrect. A third answer we can rule out immediately because there's no principle provided that establishes an action is morally right.