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June 2007 - Sec 2 - LR - Q12

Video Transcript:

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Question 12: Suppose I promise to keep a confidence and someone asks me a
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question that I cannot answer truthfully without thereby breaking the promise. Obviously,
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one cannot both keep and break the same promise. Therefore, one cannot be obliged
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both to answer all questions truthfully and to keep all promises. So argument or facts? Clearly an
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argument. Structural indicator of therefore introduces our conclusion that one
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cannot be obligated both to answer all questions truthfully and to keep all
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promices. And how do we know that? Well she gives us an example where these two
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principles are incompatible. Where she's promised to keep a confidence and someone
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asks the question that she can't answer truthfully without at the same time
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breaking that promise. So therefore, one cannot be obliged both to answer all
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questions truthfully and to keep all promises. So we see two incompatible
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principles. First, the duty to keep all promises and second the duty to answer
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all questions truthfully. So now that we have a clear understanding let's proceed
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to the question stem. Which one of the following arguments is most similar in
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its reasoning to the argument above. So we notice a parallel reasoning question. Again you notice what we saw
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was the author telling us that these two principles were incompatible by showing
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us a situation where you couldn't comply with both. So let's take a look here at
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(A): It is claimed that we had the unencumbered right to say whatever we
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want. It is also claimed that we have the obligation to be civil to others. But
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civility requires that we not always say what we want.
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So, it cannot be
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true both that we have the unencumbered right to say whatever we want and that we have the
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duty to be civil. So, definitely looks like it's on the right track there. What
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is the conclusion? The conclusion is that it cannot be true both that we have the
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unencumbered right to say whatever we want and that we have the duty to be
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civil. So you notice we have two principals; one the unencumbered right to say
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whatever we want and the duty to be civil. And how do we know that? Well, civility
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requires that we not always say what we want. And you notice that is the exact
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same structure of reasoning that we encounter in our passage so (A) would be the
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correct answer. Again showing us that two things are incompatible. Right? By giving
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us a scenario where you can't comply with both. In the passage it was this scenario where
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you had promised to keep confidence and somebody asked you question where you can't
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obviously answer the question truthfully and keep the promise if answering truthfully
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requires that you break the promise. Whereas below we have these two duties; the unencumbered
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right to say whatever, and the duty to be civil. But since the duty of civility
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requires that we not always say what we want. Therefore, it cannot both be true that we
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have been uncovered right to say whatever we want and that we have a duty to be
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civil. And if you notice what's happening in (A) and in the passage is we have sufficient &
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necessary conditions. In the passage it tells us that somebody asks a question
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that I can't answer truthfully without thereby breaking the promise.
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And again we know without introduces a necessary condition. So my necessary
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condition here would be breaking the promise. Not keeping a promise. Not only does
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'without' introduce a necessary condition the other part of the statment negated is our
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sufficient condition 'so cannot answer truthfully' would become 'answer
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truthfully'. And you notice to tell the truth I would have to break the promise. And you
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notice the contrapositive. If you keep the promise not to break the confidence
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then you can't tell the truth. The idea that telling the truth and keeping
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the promise can't go together. Not both. they're mutually exclusive in this scenario.
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In (A) you see the same thing. Civility requires. And 'requires' introduces a necessary
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condition. So our necessary condition would be 'not always saying what we want'. So 'always
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saying what we want' not doing that... The other part of the statement would be
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our sufficient condition which is simple. The contrapositive... if we always say what we want then we can't have
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civility. And again you notice the exact same idea that civility and always saying what you
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want
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can't go together. They're mutually exclusive. So (A) would be the correct answer. But again let's make
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sure here... just quickly checking the other ones. (B) Some politicians could attain
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popularity with voters only by making extravagant promises; this, however, would deceive
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the people.
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So, since the only way for some politicians to be popular is to deceive,
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and any politician needs to be popular, it follows that some politicians must deceive.
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Clearly not what we saw in the passage. We don't have two incompatible
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principles. So (B) is out. (C) if we put a lot of effort into making this report
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look good, the client might we did so because we believed
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our proposal would not stand on its own merits. On the other hand, if we do not try to make the
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report look good, the client might think we are not as serious about her business. So, whatever
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we do, we risk criticism. Again we do not see two incompatible principles that no matter
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what they risk criticism. But not the same form of reasoning that we saw in
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our passage. (D) If creditors have legitimate claims against a business
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and the business has the resources to pay those debts, then the business is
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obliged to pay them. Also, if a business has obligations to pay debts, then a court will force it to
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pay them. But the courts did not force this business to pay its debts, so either
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the creditors did not have legitimate claims or the business did not have sufficient
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resources. Again you notice clearly not the same structure as what we saw in the
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passage of two incompatible principles. So (D) is out. And then lastly checking (E): If we
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extend our business hours, we will either have to hire new employees or have existing
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employees overtime.
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But both new employees and additional overtime would dramatically increase our
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labor costs. We cannot afford to increase labor costs, so we will have to keep our
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business hours as they stand. Again, not the same structure as our passage. Again
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we are looking for two incompatible principles. So (E) is out. (A) again had the two
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incompatible principles that you can't both have the unencumbered right to say whatever
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and the duty to be civil
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because being civil requires that you not always say what you want. So, clearly you can
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not have both of those things happen at the same time. They're incompatible. In
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the passage we saw this idea of keeping all promises and answering all questions truthfully. And
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somebody asked me a question that I can't answer truthfully without braking the promise. So,
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those also would be incompatible.