Sanderson intentionally did not tell his cousin about overhearing someone say that the factory would close, knowing t...

HAMEE-YONG on June 1, 2019

I believe the key to this question revolves around the question of whether there was intent. Sanderson did not intentionally tell his cousin about overhearing someone say that the factory would close. He knew that this would mislead the cousin. However, this is still lacking to back the conclusion that "there is no moral difference between stating and failing to state if they are done with the same intention." Since we don't know whether Sanderson did really believe that the factory would be closing, we do not know whether Sanderson really tried to misled the cousin by not telling. The act of not telling was intentional, but also we would need to know whether Sanderson believed that the factory would be in fact be closing. Otherwise, he could have not told the cousin because he wasn't sure.

Victoria on June 1, 2019

Hi @Anna,

@HAMEE-YONG is right!

The passage argues that Sanderson was morally wrong in intentionally not telling his cousin that he overheard someone say that the factory would close.

The evidence used to support this conclusion is that lying is morally wrong and making a statement with the intention of misleading someone is lying. Sanderson knew that if he did not tell his cousin that the factory was closing, his cousin would assume that it would remain open. It was Sanderson's failure to state this to his cousin as opposed to his making a statement, but there is no moral difference between stating and failing to state if they are done with the same intention.

The correct answer is the assumption that, if negated, no longer allows the conclusion to be properly drawn.

If we negate answer choice C, then Sanderson did not believe that the factory would be closing. If Sanderson did not believe that the factory would be closing, then not telling his cousin would not be morally wrong as he would have believed the information that he overheard to be false. It is not a moral wrongdoing to not share or to fail to share false information with someone and Sanderson would not be intending to mislead his cousin by not sharing information that he believed to be false. Therefore, answer choice C is correct as this assumption must be made in order for the argument to properly reach its conclusion.

Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.