Suppose I have promised to keep a confidence and someone asks me a que

Question

Suppose I have promised to keep a confidence and someone asks me a question that I cannot answer truthfully without thereby breaking the promise. Obviously, I cannot both keep and break the same promise. Therefore, one cannot be obliged both to answer all questions truthfully and to keep all promises.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its reasoning to the argument above?

(A) Some politicians could attain popularity with voters only by making extravagant promises; this, however, would deceive the people. So, since the only way for some politicians to be popular is to deceive, and any politician needs to be popular, it follows that some politicians must deceive.

(B) If we put a lot of effort into making this report look good, the client might think we did so because we believed our proposal would not stand on its own merits. On the other hand, if we do not try to make the report look good, the client might think we are not serious about her business. So, whatever we do, we risk her criticism.

(C) It is claimed that we have the unencumbered right to say whatever we want. It is also claimed that we have the obligation to be civil to others. But civility requires that we not always say what we want. So, it cannot be true both that we have the unencumbered right to say whatever we want and that we have the duty to be civil.

(D) If we extend our business hours, we will either have to hire new employees or have existing employees work overtime. But both new employees and additional overtime would dramatically increase our labor costs. We cannot afford to increase labor costs, so we will have to keep our business hours as they stand.

(E) If creditors have legitimate claims against a business and the business has the resources to pay those debts, then the business is obliged to
pay them. Also, if a business has obligations to pay debts, then a court will force it to pay them. But the courts did not force this business
to pay its debts, so either the creditors did not have legitimate claims or the business did not have sufficient resources.

Lets have some discussions first after which OA shall be posted...

Source: LSAT papers

sunaimshadmani · Answer

IMO C. As it seems to be the closest one

itzmyzone911 · Answer

What do ya' mean by  seems to be  the closest one...Aren't some of the others close too?

Pl post explanation along with your answers!!

gohan91 · Answer

Can anyone suggest how to approach these kind of questions......please help one month to go and still struggling with 'similar reasoning' type of questions.

valrmc · Answer

Here is how I solved it:
There are two promises:
A. Keep the secret
B. Tell the truth
But, if you are asked the question, you can either keep the secret and lie (break Promise B) or tell the truth but break the confidence (break Promise A). So you have to break ONE of these necessarily.

Answer C follows the same logic. We have:
A. Right to say what we want
B. Obligation to be civil.

But if you say what you want then you won't be civil (Break B) or you can be civil but then can't say what you want (Break A). So you have to break ONE of these necessarily.

I hope this is clear.

mvictor · Answer

for me B seems to be a close one.
any other explanations for C?

rever08 · Answer

Suppose I have promised to keep a confidence

1. There is an Action A

and someone asks me a question that I cannot answer truthfully without thereby breaking the promise. Obviously, I cannot both keep and break the same promise.

2. There is an Action B

3. If you do Action B you cannot do Action A

Therefore, one cannot be obliged both to answer all questions truthfully and to keep all promises.

4. Therefore you cannot do B and A

So our argument structure looks like this:

Action A
Action B
If Action B then cannot do Action A
Therefore cannot have B and A
Now we apply this to each answer choice. For each answer choice put a check mark or “X” next to each element. If we have an “X” it cannot be the right answer choice.

Answer Choices:

(A) The structure of this argument does not match at all. It goes as follows:

Some of entity P (politicians) can get result V (popularity) only through action E (promises)
However E means D (deceive people)
The only way for some P to V is D
Every P needs V
Some P will D
None of the elements here really match the argument given in this question so this answer choice is wrong.

(B) This answer choice is missing all the elements except for maybe having an action A and action B.

If A (effort) then maybe M (not on own merits)
If not A then maybe S (not serious)
A or not A risks C (criticism)

(C) This is the correct answer. It has each of the elements in the argument structure. Action A is saying whatever you want, Action B is being civil. If you are civil you cannot always say what you want, which satisfies element #3. Therefore you cannot say what you want and be civil, which satisfies element #4.

(D) This answer choice may match the first two elements of having and Action A and Acton B but does not match with the rest of the structure.

The structure for this answer choice is as follows:

If action E then either N or O
Both N and O = C (cost)
Cannot C so No E

(E) The structure for this answer choice is as follows:

If entity B (business) have trait L (creditors with legit claims)
and B has trait R (resources)
Then B must take action P (pay debts)
If (element 3. exists) then result F (court forces to pay)
But Not F so either Not L or Not R
This could also be expressed as:

If trait L and trait R then P
If P then F
No F so either No L or No R
Answer choice (E) has no matching elements with the main argument structure.

kablayi · Answer

Answer choices are in this order in the original question

Suppose I have promised to keep a confidence and someone asks me a question that I cannot answer truthfully without thereby breaking the promise. Obviously, I cannot both keep and break the same promise. Therefore, one cannot be obliged both to answer all questions truthfully and to keep all promises.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its reasoning to the argument above?

A) It is claimed that we have the unencumbered right to say whatever we want. It is also claimed that we have the obligation to be civil to others. But civility requires that we not always say what we want. So, it cannot be true both that we have the unencumbered right to say whatever we want and that we have the duty to be civil.

B) Some politicians could attain popularity with voters only by making extravagant promises; this, however, would deceive the people. So, since the only way for some politicians to be popular is to deceive, and any politician needs to be popular, it follows that some politicians must deceive.

C) If we put a lot of effort into making this report look good, the client might think we did so because we believed our proposal would not stand on its own merits. On the other hand, if we do not try to make the report look good, the client might think we are not serious about her business. So, whatever we do, we risk her criticism.

D) If creditors have legitimate claims against a business and the business has the resources to pay those debts, then the business is obliged to pay them. Also, if a business has obligations to pay debts, then a court will force it to pay them. But the courts did not force this business to pay its debts, so either the creditors did not have legitimate claims or the business did not have sufficient resources.

E) If we extend our business hours, we will either have to hire new employees or have existing employees work overtime. But both new employees and additional overtime would dramatically increase our labor costs. We cannot afford to increase labor costs, so we will have to keep our business hours as they stand.

aconsistentindian · Answer

LSAT - June 2007, Logical Reasoning - Section 2, Q12 - Keeping confidence  : On youtube has the explanation.

shivam7 · Answer

This is How I think:
If I always follow A then I will not be able to follow B always 
If I always follow B then I will not be able to follow A always
So I can not follow both A and B both at once.

Suppose I have promised to keep a confidence and someone asks me a que

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Suppose I have promised to keep a confidence and someone asks me a que

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