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I am not sure how to approach the following principle questions: P39 S2 Q11, P24 S3 Q24, and P23 S3 Q24. I'm pretty sure there are more out there. How do I go about these questions? Do I make sure one of the answers cover one of the caveats or does the answer need to cover both or how many other there may be? Also, do I just try to match the answers with one or more of the caveats or should I take the contrapositive (if a conditional is given)? These questions confuse me. Any help would be grateful!

Tiwinkle12 wrote:I am not sure how to approach the following principle questions: P38 S2 Q11, P24 S3 Q24, and P23 S3 Q24. I'm pretty sure there are more out there. How do I go about these questions? Do I make sure one of the answers cover one of the caveats or does the answer need to cover both or how many other there may be? Also, do I just try to match the answers with one or more of the caveats or should I take the contrapositive (if a conditional is given)? These questions confuse me. Any help would be grateful!

PT24 S3 Q24:
So for this kind of principle question, the stimulus is a given "idea" and the answer choices are examples of that idea in action.

The stimulus is saying that a society is just ONLY when they have these 2 things. Which are equal right to basic liberties to everyone, as well as the advantages given to EVERYONE from inequalities from the distribution of income/wealth, along with those advantages being attached to jobs for EVERYONE. So if a society lacks one or the other, then it is not a just society.

Be very careful with wording, (A) seems fine up until it says "most people" are linked to the attached jobs, in which we need EVERYONE to be linked to them if there is inequality of income/wealth. (B) Doesn't really tell us much. It doesn't include whether or not the inequality in income/wealth distribution allows everyone to be advantaged and have the jobs attached to it. Therefore, without knowing that, we can't say if it's just or not. (C) No talk about basic liberties. (E) No talk about advantages, only attached jobs in which you need to have both.

We're left with (D) which says everyone in Society S gets equal distribution to wealth/income (so there's no need for people to be advantaged with the jobs attached to it since there's no inequality), but then it says that there are inequalities in the right to basic liberties and that society s is not just. This is your answer because you need to have BOTH in order for a society to be just, whether there is inequality or equality for distribution of wealth/income.

BTW P38 S2 Q11 is numbered wrong so check it. Maybe someone else can explain the others for you!

Tiwinkle12 wrote:I am not sure how to approach the following principle questions: P38 S2 Q11, P24 S3 Q24, and P23 S3 Q24. I'm pretty sure there are more out there. How do I go about these questions? Do I make sure one of the answers cover one of the caveats or does the answer need to cover both or how many other there may be? Also, do I just try to match the answers with one or more of the caveats or should I take the contrapositive (if a conditional is given)? These questions confuse me. Any help would be grateful!

The answer should match as many caveats as there are presented, or if it claims the opposite conclusion, it should violate at least one caveat. I'm going to look at PT24 S3 Q24 as an example.

In this case, there are 3 requirements for claiming that a society is just:
1. Each person has an equal right to basic liberties.
2. Inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth, if they exist, are to everyone's advantage.
3. Inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth, if they exist, are attached to jobs that are open to everyone.

If the answer claims that the society is just, an ideal answer would inform us about all 3 requirements. If it claims that the society is unjust, the answer must violate at least one of 3 requirements.

(A) informs us about all 3, but it tells us that these jobs are attached to most people, not all.
(B) doesn't tell us enough about the inequalities for us to conclude if they are unjust.
(C) doesn't establish #1.
(D) violates #1, and claims society is unjust, so it works.
(E) doesn't establish #2.

The best approach to these questions is to be first be completely clear on what each of the requirements are, ideally as conditional diagrams, though some other shorthand may work just as well. Then, compare each answer to these requirements, but always pay close attention to what conclusion they are making. In this example, our criteria for evaluating an answer that claimed society was just is different from evaluating one that is unjust.