columnist : It is sometime claimed that the only factors relevant to

Question

Columnist : It is sometime claimed that the only factors relevant to determining moral guilt or innocence are the intentions of the person performing an action. However, external circumstances often play a crucial role in our moral judgment of an action. For example, a cook at a restaurant who absentmindedly put an ingredient in the stew that is not usually in the stew would ordinarily be regarded as forgetful, not immoral. If, however, someone eating at the restaurant happens to be severely allergic to that ingredient, eats the stew, and dies, many people would judge the cook to be guilty of serious moral negligence. Which one of the following propositions is best illustrated by the columnist’s statements?

(A) It is sometimes fair to judge the morality of others’actions even without considering all of the circumstances under which those actions were performed.
(B) We sometimes judge unfairly the morality of other people’s actions.
(C) We should judge all negligent people to be equally morally blameworthy,regardless of the outcomes of their actions. 
(D) People are sometimes held morally blameworthy as a result of circumstances some of which were outside their intentional control.
(E) The intentions of the person performing an action are rarely a decisive factor in making moral judgments about that action

aurobindomahanty · Answer

OA is D. Sorry for the earlier wrong OA.

goforgmat · Answer

Its E clearly.
The author doesn't agree with the first statement. His opinions are contrary which he explains by using an example. 
Hence E

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This is from LSAT Prep Test #50, Section 2, Question #25.

The  OA is D . Please change it in the original post.

Here is the simplified argument --

External circumstances often play a crucial role in our moral judgment of an action --> Intentions are not the only factor in determining moral guilt

This is supported by giving an example -- of a cook at a restaurant.

Let us take a look at the answer options --

Option A -- Incorrect

The author does not talk about fair/unfair OR right/wrong. He/She reports on what factors influence people decisions in making moral judgments. Nothing about whether those judgments are fair or unfair.

Option B - Incorrect

The author does not give his/her opinion on whether such judgments are fair/unfair. She reports only on the factors that influence such decisions -- stating that intentions are not the only factor.

Option C - Incorrect

The author does not give his/her opinion on how people should be judged. However, others are sometimes judged based on the outcomes of their actions.

Option D - Correct answer

True as is illustrated by the example given in the argument. "circumstances outside their intentional control" = the cook did not commit the action intentionally but the action was committed due to  negligence . 
(The circumstances could have been "controlled" by the cook if he were more careful, but they were outside his "intentional control".)

Option E - Incorrect

"The intentions of the person performing an action are  rarely  a decisive factor" -- We cannot make this inference based on 1 example.

Moreover, the conclusion clearly states -- "Intentions are not the only factor in determining moral guilt" (there might be other factors too). This is not the same as "rarely a decisive factor".

aurobindomahanty · Answer

Thank you for an awesome explanation and pointing out wrong answer. changed the OA to D

deveshj21 · Answer

nightblade354   eakabuah 
Hello experts!
While the argument states that external factors often play a crucial role in the moral judgement of a person option D coneverts "often" into "sometimes", which is why i eliminated option D.
Please guide me.
Regards
Devesh

VerbalBot · Answer

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