The desire for praise is the desire to obtain the favorable opinions of others.
If someone deserves praise for an action (”merit” = “deserve”), that action must be motivated by a desire to help others.
A
An action that is motivated by a desire for the favorable opinion of others cannot also be motivated by a desire to help others.
B
No action is worthy of praise if it is motivated solely by a desire for praise.
C
People who are indifferent to the welfare of others do not deserve praise.
D
One deserves praise for advancing one’s own interests only if one also advances the interests of others.
E
It is the motives rather than the consequences of one’s actions that determine whether one deserves praise for them.
Rosen: One cannot prepare a good meal from bad food, produce good food from bad soil, maintain good soil without good farming, or have good farming without a culture that places value on the proper maintenance of all its natural resources so that needed supplies are always available.
Summary
Good meal → NOT bad food
Good food → NOT bad soil
Good soil → Good farming
Good farming → culture that places value on maintaining natural resources
Very Strongly Supported Conclusions
Normally, I wouldn’t think “NOT bad food” implies “good food,” since there might be something that’s just not bad and not good — just middle-of-the-road food. Same thing with “NOT bad soil” and “good soil.”
But, the stimulus seems to be set up in order for us to draw a conditional chain connecting every statement.
Good meal → good food → good soil → good farming → culture that places value on maintining natural resources.
I know this seems inappropriate, but consider this problem unusual, and don’t draw too many lessons from it. Think of this problem as an exception.
A
The creation of good meals depends on both natural and cultural conditions.
Supported, if we accept the conditional chain starting with “good meal” and ending with “culture that maintains natural resources.” A good meal depends on natural conditions, such as soil. And it depends on cultural conditions, such as a culture’s view of natural resources.
B
Natural resources cannot be maintained properly without good farming practices.
We know good farming is necessary for good soil. But there’s no support for the claim that good farming is necessary for maintaining natural resources. There are many other kinds of natural resources besides soil, and we don’t know whether good farming is related to those other resources.
C
Good soil is a prerequisite of good farming.
We know good farming is necessary for good soil. But this doesn’t mean good soil is necessary (prerequisite) for good farming.
D
Any society with good cultural values will have a good cuisine.
We don’t know anything about good “cuisine.” A cuisine is different from a meal. We also don’t know that “good cultural values” is sufficient for anything.
E
When food is bad, it is because of poor soil and, ultimately, bad farming practices.
Food might be bad for other reasons besides poor soil and bad farming. We know that good food requires good soil and good farming, but it might also require other things. So we might have good soil and good farming, but still end up with bad food.