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- Sat Feb 04, 2017 2:45 pm
#32480
Complete Question Explanation
Must Be True—PR, SN. The correct answer choice is (D)
This question is very much like Question 19, in that both have a stimulus containing a one-sentence principle. The difference between the questions is that Question 19 was a Cannot Be True—Principle question, while this is a Must Be True—Principle question.
The principle here is that if a government official has knowledge, not available to the general public, of an impending policy, and uses that knowledge to financially benefit himself, then that use of knowledge is unethical. We can diagram this rule as:
GO = government official
USK = uses secret knowledge
FB = financially benefit himself/herself
Ethical = the use of knowledge is ethical
Sufficient Necessary
GO
+
USK 
Ethical
+
FB
Our job is to compare this principle to the factual scenarios provided in each answer choice. The correct answer will contain elements matching each of the three sufficient conditions, proving that the action was unethical.
Answer choice (A): This scenario does not tell us that the former employee, now a government official, used secret knowledge of impending policies to benefit himself financially. Although the names of the bidders were not released publicly, there is no indication that the official used this knowledge to give anyone, let alone himself, any benefit.
Answer choice (B): The officer is now retired, and so is no longer a government official. Also, it is not clear that the officer uses secret knowledge of impending policies to benefit himself.
Answer choice (C): The official in this scenario used public knowledge of an enacted policy to benefit herself financially, not secret knowledge of a impending policy.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, because the scenario it depicts matches all three of the sufficient conditions. The government official used secret knowledge of the impending tax policy to benefit himself financially, by avoiding the new tax.
Answer choice (E): This official made the information about the investigation into Acme public before she acted on it, and the issue was an investigation, not a policy. So, she did not act on secret knowledge of an impending policy.
Must Be True—PR, SN. The correct answer choice is (D)
This question is very much like Question 19, in that both have a stimulus containing a one-sentence principle. The difference between the questions is that Question 19 was a Cannot Be True—Principle question, while this is a Must Be True—Principle question.
The principle here is that if a government official has knowledge, not available to the general public, of an impending policy, and uses that knowledge to financially benefit himself, then that use of knowledge is unethical. We can diagram this rule as:
GO = government official
USK = uses secret knowledge
FB = financially benefit himself/herself
Ethical = the use of knowledge is ethical
Sufficient Necessary GO + USK Ethical + FBOur job is to compare this principle to the factual scenarios provided in each answer choice. The correct answer will contain elements matching each of the three sufficient conditions, proving that the action was unethical.
Answer choice (A): This scenario does not tell us that the former employee, now a government official, used secret knowledge of impending policies to benefit himself financially. Although the names of the bidders were not released publicly, there is no indication that the official used this knowledge to give anyone, let alone himself, any benefit.
Answer choice (B): The officer is now retired, and so is no longer a government official. Also, it is not clear that the officer uses secret knowledge of impending policies to benefit himself.
Answer choice (C): The official in this scenario used public knowledge of an enacted policy to benefit herself financially, not secret knowledge of a impending policy.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, because the scenario it depicts matches all three of the sufficient conditions. The government official used secret knowledge of the impending tax policy to benefit himself financially, by avoiding the new tax.
Answer choice (E): This official made the information about the investigation into Acme public before she acted on it, and the issue was an investigation, not a policy. So, she did not act on secret knowledge of an impending policy.