The conception of morality that underlies the author's argument in the passage is best expressed by which one of the ...

Emil-Kunkin on January 21, 2022

This question is asking us what general principle underlines morality behind the author's argument in the passage. We can treat this much like a principle question in LR, except we will have to make sure we have a strong understanding of the author's argument and the morality behind it. Once we do, we will then be looking for a general statement that expresses that morality.

In their argument, the author examines the view that companies are not people, so it would be flawed to attribute morality to them, and that their sole responsibility is to maximize profits for their owners, which will in turn maximize the public good. The author rejects this position in the final paragraph "this view does not hold up to scrutiny." This is because, according to the last paragraph, a company acting in its own interest often will do something that is contrary to the public good, like decimating a forest. Furthermore, the author notes that acting in the public good rather than in the interest of profit might actually cause a ceo to be penalized. They conclude that the threat of this penalty is not enough to excuse the ceo from not acting morally.

From this final sentence, we can assume that the "moral" action would have been the one in the public interest but not in the interest of the company. From this we can extrapolate that the author believes that it is moral to act in the public good even when it conflicts with one's own interests or that of one's job.

A conforms to this understanding of morality, we know the author thinks it is moral to act in the public interest, and a tells us that acting in the interest of the public is what makes an action morally right.

B tells us that what makes an action morally right is that it carries the risk of penalty. While the action in the passage is morally right and does carry the risk of penalty, the risk is not what makes it right, it is the fact that the action is in the public interest.

C tells us that an action is right if it does not harm others, which is irrelevant to the authors view.

D and E tell us what is morally wrong or not morally wrong, while the author is only concerned with that is morally right.