Moralist: A statement is wholly truthful only if it is true and made without intended deception. A statement is a li...

shunhe on August 19, 2020

Hi @zia305,

Thanks for the question! Let’s look through this stimulus first. A moralist tells us that a statement is wholly truthful only if it’s true and made without intended deception. And then we’re also told that a statement’s a lie if it’s intended to deceive or of its speaker refrains from clarifying it when they learn it was misinterpreted.

Now we have to find a judgment that conforms to these principles that the moralist stated. Sounds like a prime candidate for conditioning based on the “only if” and “if” statements. So let’s diagram the first sentence first. Remember, only if introduces the necessary condition, so this can be diagrammed

Wholly truthful —> True & Made without intended deception

Now for the second statement, which is a classic “if then” with a “or”:

Intended to deceive v Speaker refrains from clarifying upon learning it was misinterpreted —> Lie
?So now take a look at (D). We’re told that Walter’s claim to a potential employer that he did volunteer work was a lie. Why? Because Walter worked without pay in his factor’s factory, but used “volunteer work” to make the interviewer think he worked for a socially beneficial cause. So this is something that was intended to deceive, and that means that what he said was a lie! So this is an illustration of the second statement, and so (D) is the correct answer choice.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

zia305 on August 19, 2020

@Shunhe Thanks for the explanation!

shunhe on August 25, 2020

You're welcome!