Q11 - It is morally praiseworthy

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Question Type:
Sufficient Assumption

Stimulus Breakdown:
Premise: morally praiseworthy to be honest → honesty is based on respect for morality (first sentence in stimulus)
Premise: Downing's statement to the judge was motivated by concern for his own well-being (third sentence)
Conclusion: Downing's statement to the judge was not morally praiseworthy (second sentence)

Answer Anticipation:
The contrapositive of our first premise is:
honesty is not based on respect for morality → not morally praiseworthy

This premise will support the conclusion if we know that Downing's statement was not based on respect for morality. But our other premise only states that Downing was motivated by concern for his own well-being. We want the premises to fully support the conclusion, which will happen if we assume:
concerned for own well-being → not based on respect for morality

Correct answer:
(C)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Premise mismatch: Choice (A) give us, "concerned for own well-being → not deserving of condemnation." We're trying to connect concern for one's own well-being with something that's not based on respect for morality. "Not deserving of moral condemnation" doesn't help us.

(B) Premise mismatch: This answer gives us, "essentially honest → not morally praiseworthy." We're told that Downing's action was "certainly" honest, but that's essentially an opposing point, not a premise. We're trying to prove that Downing's statement was not morally praiseworthy in spite of it being honest. The idea of being "essentially honest" is not part of any premise, and it doesn't help link our premises to the conclusion.

(C) Correct: "Based on respect for morality → not concerned for own well-being" is the contrapositive of the assumption that we predicted above.

(D) Doesn't address conclusion: While this answer does involve judging the "moral praiseworthiness of an action," that's a broad term that could include judging it as praiseworthy, or not praiseworthy. Since this answer doesn't specifically involve something being praiseworthy, or not praiseworthy, we can't link it to the conclusion of our argument.

(E) Doesn't address conclusion: This answer states that we have to be honest in order to act morally, but our argument is taking this one step further, stating that in order to be praiseworthy our honesty must be based on respect for morality. While choice (E) does involve honesty, morality, and well-being, it doesn't address praiseworthiness, respect for morality, or concern for one's well-being.

Takeaway/Pattern:
When you see a Sufficient Assumption question with a conditional statement in the first sentence, it's helpful to focus on conditional logic to spot the assumption.

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