#21 - Ethicist: People who avoid alcoholic beverages simply

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen—PR. The correct answer choice is (C)

The ethicist in this stimulus asserts that those who abstain from drinking do not deserve praise if their abstinence is based on financial constraints, or on lack of desire, unless that lack of desire is the result of disciplining oneself in order to refrain.

The question stem asks for the principle which would strengthen (or "most justify") the author's argument. A prephrase for such a principle would be something like "praise is only merited when one's abstinence from an act has required discipline."

Answer choice (A): The stimulus presents no discussion of the consequences of one's behavior, so this principle does not lend strength to the author's argument.

Answer choice (B): This choice deals with blameworthiness, while the ethicist's argument deals only with praiseworthiness, so answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. The ethicist has already ruled out financial constraints and simple preference as justification for praise. According to this principle and to the ethicist, praise is only due to those whose natural desires have been overcome with discipline.

Answer choice (D): While the ethicist does require arduous discipline to justify praise for abstinence, there is no discussion of the relationship between the arduousness of attaining self-discipline and an individual's particular desires and aversions, so this answer choice does not strengthen the author's conclusion.

Answer choice (E): No such proportionality is suggested by the ethicist, and the stimulus does not deal with blameworthiness at all, so this answer choice is incorrect.

[lathlee]

Hi. I tried to explain this question to myslef with conditional diagrams since so many conditional indicating elements are loaded in Q stem and in the answer choices. But couldnt make myself witb convincing and undetstandable diagram. Am i Doing something wrong.? Here i come to find out and realize the Powerscore staff solved the question without coditional relationship diagram. Am i missing something?

[Adam Tyson]

While there are conditional indicators such as "people who", we don't end up with classic conditionality because the claims conclude not with things that are necessary but only things that "should" be true. While we could force these into a conditional framework (avoid because not afford should be praised), the presence of "should" rather than a more absolute indicator like "must" suggests that a conditional approach may not be the best one. Instead, focus on the "should" aspect of the argument. It isn't about facts and certainty, but about opinions and right vs wrong.

Not every conditional indicator requires a diagram! It takes practice and experience to know when to use it and when not to, but looking for differences like "should" rather than "must" will help. Keep at it!

[alex.r.berson@gmail.com]

Hi there,

I was having trouble with this one primarily because of the "afford" language in the (C). In the stimulus, when the author introduces the exception/unless, there's no mention about affordability just refrainment. In my head, I went through the many things that are addicting desires that don't necessarily have to cost money, but am I wrong to spread out that much with scope since the argument only talks about alcohol? Was that an unwarranted assumption on my part?

I chose (E) because it seems like there was a discussion of balancing blame and praise ("apportionment").

[Adam Tyson]

Check that stimulus again, alex, and you'll see that the author does bring up the concept of affordability in the first sentence:

People who avoid alcoholic beverages simply because they regard them as a luxury beyond their financial means should not be praised (emphasis added)

Thus, the author things being unable to afford something means you don't get praise for not doing the thing. You only deserve praise if you were able to afford it and you chose not to, and only if it was something you wanted to do but worked hard to stop yourself from doing. Both of those things are necessary if you deserve praise. That's answer C!