#8 - Otis: Aristotle’s principle of justice says that we

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point at Issue. The correct answer choice is (B)

In this stimulus, Otis and Tyra discuss Aristotle's principle of justice, which says that relevantly similar cases should be treated similarly. While they both agree with this principle, the speakers disagree about whether it is wrong for a dentist to make a special exception for a friend. In other words, they disagree over whether the example of the dentist falls under the category of "relevantly similar."

Answer choice (A): Neither speaker comments on the degree of applicability of the principle—they only say that they both agree with the principle.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. They disagree about whether Aristotle's principle is applicable to the dentist's special exception.

Answer choice (C): The two speakers disagree over whether the friend of the dentist is relevantly similar to the other patients, not over whether people are able to treat similar cases similarly, so this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (D): Neither speaker is committed to agreeing with this bold assertion. While this would justify, from Otis' perspective, the after hours appointment for the friend, there is no reason to presume that Otis would make such an assertion about what dentists "should be willing" to do.

Answer choice (E): There is no such comparison of moral weight on either side of the dialogue, so there is no basis for concluding the perspective of either regarding this statement, and this answer choice is incorrect.

[quan-tang@hotmail.com]

I find A could be right since the original passage does talk about the applicability - whether the principal should be applicable to everyone including family or friend alike.
C is a better answer not because A is wrong but because B is a more specific answer. However, I cannot conceive how A is wrong if we accept B is correct since B is talking about the applicability afterall.

[Robert Carroll]

quan-tang,

The issue with answer choice (A) is that we simply can't find a person who agrees with it in the stimulus. Who thinks Aristotle's principle of justice is widely applicable, and how do you know? We know of exactly one situation where Otis thinks it applies and Tyra doesn't. What about all the other cases? It's not enough simply to say that Otis thinks it's more widely applicable than Tyra, because Otis thinks it applies to at least one case Tyra doesn't include. You'd have to say that Otis thinks it's widely applicable without qualification. I have no idea how widely Otis applies the principle, nor do I know how widely Tyra does. If Tyra applies it a little less broadly than Otis, she could still apply it widely! Thus, there is no way to know what either person believes about the truth of answer choice (A).

Robert Carroll