Pseudo-sufficient Assumption Flashcards
Essayist: Commitment to relationships or careers is commonly held to be virtuous. But all commitments should be seen as morally neutral. After all, what one is committed to might be either good or bad; for example, commitment to a relationship that benefits none of the people involved deserves no praise. Often, commitment is nothing more than involvement that has outlasted its original justification.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the essayist’s reasoning?
A) Any commitment that is morally neutral either has outlasted its original justification or deserves no praise, or both.
B) Commitment to a relationship or career is virtuous when, but only when, the relationship or career is good.
C) If a commitment deserves no praise, then that commitment is morally neutral.
D) If a commitment has outlasted its original justification, then it cannot be virtuous.
E) All commitments are morally neutral if there are any commitments that are undeserving of praise.
93.2.21
E) All commitments are morally neutral if there are any commitments that are undeserving of praise.
Essayist: Knowledge has been defined as a true belief formed by a reliable process. This definition has been criticized on the grounds that if someone had a reliable power of clairvoyance, we would not accept that person’s claim to know certain things on the basis of this power. I agree that we would reject such claims, but we would do so because we really do not believe in clairvoyance as a reliable process. Were we to believe in clairvoyance, we would accept knowledge claims made on the basis of it.
Which one of the following most accurately describes the essayist’s method of defending the definition against the objection?
A) Asserting that the objection is based on a belief about the reliability of clairvoyance rather than on the nature of knowledge or its definition
B) asserting that the case of clairvoyance is one of knowledge even though we do not really believe in clairvoyance as a reliable process
C) arguing against the assumption that clairvoyance is unreliable
D) explaining that the definition of knowledge is a matter of personal choice
E) demonstrating that the case of clairvoyance is not a case of knowledge and does not fit the definition of knowledge.
A) Asserting that the objection is based on a belief about the reliability of clairvoyance rather than on the nature of knowledge or its definition
Critic: Although some people claim it is inconsistent to support freedom of speech and also support legislation limiting the amount of violence in TV programs, it is not. We can limit TV program content because the damage done by violent programs is more harmful than the decrease in freedom of speech that would result from the limitations envisioned by the legislation.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the critic’s reasoning?
A) In evaluating legislation that would impinge on a basic freedom, we should consider the consequences of not passing the legislation.
B) One can support freedom of speech while at the same time recognizing that it can sometimes be overridden by other interests.
C) When facing a choice between restricting freedom of speech or not, we must decide based on what would make the greatest number of people the happiest.
D) If the exercise of a basic freedom leads to some harm, then the exercise of that freedom should be restricted.
E) In some circumstances, we should tolerate regulations that impinge on a basic freedom.
B) One can support freedom of speech while at the same time recognizing that it can sometimes be overridden by other interests.
Lecturer: Given our current state of knowledge and technology, we can say that the generalization that the entropy of a closed system cannot decrease for any spontaneous process has not been falsified by any of our tests of that generalization. So we conclude it to be true universally. Yet, it must be admitted that this generalization has not been conclusively verified, in the sense that it has not been tested in every corner of the universe, under every feasible condition. Nevertheless, this generalization is correctly regarded as a scientific law; indeed, it is referred to as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most justifies the lecturer’s classification of the generalization described above?
A) Whatever is a scientific law has not been falsified.
B) If a generalization is confirmed only under a few circumstances, it should not be considered a scientific law.
C) What is true universally will eventually be confirmed to the extent current science allows.
D) If a generalization is confirmed to the extent current science allows, then it is considered a scientific law.
E) Whatever is regarded as a scientific law will eventually be conclusively verified.
D) If a generalization is confirmed to the extent current science allows, then it is considered a scientific law.
