Philosophy Ethics

Respuesta correcta: A) exacerbate

• A) exacerbateCorrect. 'Exacerbate' means to make a problem or bad situation worse, which fits perfectly here.
• B) alleviateIncorrect. 'Alleviate' means to make something less severe, which is the opposite of what's needed.
• C) mitigateIncorrect. 'Mitigate' means to make something less severe, which doesn't fit the negative consequence implied.
• D) facilitateIncorrect. 'Facilitate' means to make an action or process easy or easier, which is not appropriate for a social divide.

Respuesta correcta: B) legitimacy

• A) novelty'Novelty' means being new or original, and nothing in the test the philosopher describes depends on a rule being new. The criterion is universality, not freshness, so the word does not belong in this argument.
• B) legitimacy'Legitimacy' is the moral right to be obeyed, and Kant's formula grants moral standing only to a maxim that could be willed as universal law. A rule that fails the test has no claim on anyone, which is the sense the sentence needs.
• C) brevity'Brevity' means shortness of expression, a property of how a sentence is written. The sentence is concerned with whether a maxim can be willed by everyone, which has nothing to do with length.
• D) profitability'Profitability' is an economic property, and the criterion stated is a moral one. A maxim that could not be willed universally would lack moral authority, not commercial value, so the noun is wrong.

Respuesta correcta: B) external

• A) internal'Internal' means existing inside, and saying thought has no internal nature would contradict the whole point that thinking is a private process. The claim is that it escapes outside control, not that it lacks a centre.
• B) external'External' means existing outside a person or institution. The clause 'has no external...' gives the reason: an activity entirely inward cannot be policed from outside, which is the contrast the sentence draws.
• C) collective'Collective' means shared by a group, and the sentence is arguing the opposite: thought is precisely what cannot be shared or imposed by a body of people. Authorities fail to police it because it is not collective.
• D) temporary'Temporary' describes how long something lasts, and the sentence is not making a claim about duration. The contrast is between an inner process and outside control, which is a distinction of kind rather than of time.

Respuesta correcta: A) endorse

• A) endorse'To endorse' is to approve of or put your name behind something. 'Each person would endorse on reflection' is exactly the utilitarian claim: the arrangement is justified because each individual would approve it, not because a majority imposes it on a minority.
• B) revoke'To revoke' is to cancel or withdraw, the opposite of approval. The whole point of the sentence is that the arrangement is one people accept, so a verb of withdrawal contradicts the argument.
• C) inherit'To inherit' is to receive property from someone who has died, and no transmission is described. The sentence is about whether each person would agree with a rule, which is a question of endorsement rather than of succession.
• D) contest'To contest' is to challenge or dispute, which again runs against the sentence. The utilitarian insists the calculation would be accepted on reflection, so the verb must express agreement rather than disagreement.

Respuesta correcta: C) Students at the school help create rules after discussing the reasons behind them.

• A) The school decided to ban mobile phones completely.Incorrect. The text says the committee "did not simply ban phones"; the new rule only forbids recording people without permission.
• B) Teachers in Pasto no longer take part in school decisions.Incorrect. The committee has three teachers, and the text says rules are "no longer written only by the teachers", which means teachers still participate.
• C) Students at the school help create rules after discussing the reasons behind them.Correct. The text describes a committee with students that discusses problems, organises workshops and lets the school vote; Valeria's final sentence sums it up: rules are respected when people understand their reasons.
• D) Students prefer workshops to classes in other subjects.Incorrect. The workshops are mentioned as a step before the vote; the text does not compare them with other classes or say that students prefer them.

Respuesta correcta: C) Its rules encourage people to listen to others before speaking.

• A) Participants must study philosophy at university to attend.Incorrect. The text says there is "no teacher and no exam" and that anyone present discusses the question; nothing suggests a university requirement.
• B) The discussions usually end with a clear winner.Incorrect. The organisers say people rarely say "I won the argument"; the typical comment shows that they reconsidered their ideas instead of winning.
• C) Its rules encourage people to listen to others before speaking.Correct. The only rule is to respond to the previous speaker before giving a new opinion, and participants often leave having changed their perspective, so the reader can infer that the format promotes listening.
• D) The bookshop organises the event to sell more philosophy books.Incorrect. The text never mentions sales or business reasons; it only describes how the discussion works and what participants say afterwards.

Respuesta correcta: D) Moral obligation cannot be reduced to the calculation of outcomes.

• A) Every moral theory in history has in fact been based on consequences.This is the exact opposite of the sentence. The words 'No... has ever been able' exclude the possibility, and reading the negation as an affirmation reverses the forum's argument.
• B) Moral theories are interested only in what happens after an action.'Settle what a person ought to do' is about obligation, and the claim denies that outcomes can decide it. A theory focused only on later events would be precisely the position being rejected.
• C) Students should study consequences because they are the only defensible measure.The sentence contains no recommendation to students and no mention of studying. It is a claim about the limits of moral reasoning, and the 'ought' in the sentence is what marks it as being about duty.
• D) Moral obligation cannot be reduced to the calculation of outcomes.The negative statement 'No serious moral theory has ever been able to say' denies that consequences settle the question of what one ought to do. Read as a position rather than a report, it is the claim that duty exists independently of results.

Respuesta correcta: D) To tell a true example of an honest action and the reasons behind it.

• A) To warn passengers not to carry cash in taxis.Incorrect. The text does not give advice to passengers or mention dangers; it focuses on the driver's decision and his reasons.
• B) To criticise hospitals for charging high prices for operations.Incorrect. The operation explains why the money was important, but the writer makes no comment about hospital prices.
• C) To advertise a taxi company in Bucaramanga.Incorrect. No company is named or promoted; the text is about one driver's personal choice and the values he wants to teach his children.
• D) To tell a true example of an honest action and the reasons behind it.Correct. The text narrates what Hernando did step by step and ends with his explanation of why he returned the money, so its purpose is to present an example of honesty and its motivation.

Respuesta correcta: C) collect more and more for yourself.

• A) give away to other people.Incorrect. This is the meaning of "share", the word that the sentence presents as the opposite of "accumulate".
• B) work together without payment.Incorrect. This describes a minga, the collective workday mentioned earlier, not the verb "accumulate".
• C) collect more and more for yourself.Correct. "Accumulate" is contrasted with "share": the elders say wellbeing is not kept by one person, and the example of someone who "becomes rich while the community suffers" shows the meaning of gathering more for oneself.
• D) live in harmony with nature.Incorrect. Harmony with the land and water is part of the Nasa idea of living well, but it is not what "accumulate" means; the verb refers to gathering possessions.

Respuesta correcta: D) It included support for the workers who would lose their jobs.

• A) It allowed bullfighting to continue in Manizales.Incorrect. Manizales is mentioned only as an example in the opponents' argument; the law banned the shows in general and made no exception for any city.
• B) It cancelled the ban after three years.Incorrect. The three years are a transition period before the ban takes full effect, not a time limit after which the ban is cancelled.
• C) It agreed that bullfighting is necessary for a modern society.Incorrect. This idea contradicts the supporters' argument, and the law itself sided with them by banning the shows.
• D) It included support for the workers who would lose their jobs.Correct. The opponents worried about the jobs that depended on bullfighting, and the text says the law "asked the government to help the workers of the sector find new jobs", which answers that concern.

Respuesta correcta: A) is

• A) is'Under no circumstances' is a fronted negative phrase that calls for emphatic inversion, and the copula 'is' is the auxiliary that moves: 'under no circumstances is a philosopher obliged'. The structure is a link verb with 'obliged', not a modal.
• B) are'Are' would not agree with the singular subject 'a philosopher'. In an inverted clause the auxiliary still has to match the subject that has moved to the right of it, and one philosopher takes 'is'.
• C) were'Were' would either be a plural of 'are', which fails on agreement, or an inverted subjunctive copula used in formal conditionals such as 'were I to choose'. The sentence is a denial of an obligation, not a hypothetical condition.
• D) been'Been' is a past participle and cannot open an inverted clause on its own. A fronted negative phrase needs a finite auxiliary in front of the subject, and the only one that agrees here is 'is'.

Respuesta correcta: D) did

• A) had'Had' belongs to the past perfect, but that perfect is already used inside the subordinate clause in 'had been stated'. Using it again in the main clause would leave the inverted clause without the do-support that the negative adverbial requires.
• B) was'Was' would form a passive or a copula, and neither matches the active sense of the lecture making sense. A negated fronted clause needs a finite auxiliary before the subject, and 'was' would not invert with the verb 'make'.
• C) could'Could' would add a sense of possibility, but the lecture does make sense, and the sentence is denying that it did so before a certain point. The claim is a matter of ordering, which is exactly what 'did' plus inversion expresses.
• D) did'Not until' is a negative fronted adverbial, and the main clause is inverted with 'did': 'not until... did the rest of the lecture make any sense'. The main verb returns to its base form 'make' because the auxiliary now carries the tense and the emphasis.

Respuesta correcta: A) could

• A) could'Only by' fronted at the start of the sentence inverts the main clause, and 'could' is the modal that can follow: 'only by questioning... could the seminar escape'. The inversion draws attention to the method, which is the point the sentence is making.
• B) must'Must' would express obligation, saying the seminar is required to escape the circularity. The sentence is describing what made escape possible, not what the seminar was obliged to do.
• C) should'Should' would be a recommendation, telling the seminar to question the assumption. The clause is not advising anyone; it is identifying the single route by which a particular outcome became available.
• D) will'Will' would place the escape in the future, but the sentence discusses a session that has already taken place and the reasoning available at the time. The modal has to match that completed analysis.

Respuesta correcta: A) has

• A) hasCorrect. "Rarely" at the start inverts the clause, and the words "been separated" need the perfect auxiliary: "Rarely has the question... been separated". "Has" agrees with the singular subject "the question".
• B) doesIncorrect. "Does" must be followed by a base verb, but the sentence continues with "been separated"; "does... been" is not possible in English.
• C) isIncorrect. "Is" cannot be followed by "been"; with "is" the passive would be "is separated", which does not match the words already in the sentence.
• D) didIncorrect. "Did" needs a base form after the subject, so "did... been separated" is ungrammatical; the participle "been" can only follow a form of "have".

Respuesta correcta: D) does

• A) isIncorrect. "Is" cannot be followed by the base form "carry"; "is carry" is not a possible verb form in English.
• B) hasIncorrect. "Has" would need the participle "carried", but the sentence gives the base form "carry", so "has... carry" is ungrammatical.
• C) doIncorrect. "Do" is used with plural subjects or "I/you"; the subject "ordinary moral intuition" is singular and uncountable, so it needs "does".
• D) doesCorrect. "Seldom" at the start inverts the clause; in the present simple the auxiliary "does" goes before the singular subject "ordinary moral intuition" and the main verb stays in the base form "carry".

Respuesta correcta: D) still rests

• A) does it restIncorrect. "However + adverb" does not cause inversion of the main clause; "does it rest" would turn the clause into a question form, which is ungrammatical here.
• B) still restIncorrect. The subject "it" is third person singular, so the present simple verb needs an -s: "rests", not "rest".
• C) restingIncorrect. "Resting" is a participle and cannot be the only verb of the main clause; the sentence would have no finite verb after "it".
• D) still restsCorrect. "However carefully..." means "no matter how carefully"; it is followed by a normal clause with subject + verb, so "it still rests" is the correct word order and "rests" agrees with "it".

Respuesta correcta: A) The group is looking at the wrong cause of the problem.

• A) The group is looking at the wrong cause of the problem.Correct. "Barking up the wrong tree" means looking for an answer in the wrong place; Daniela says the real cause is fear of failing, not a lack of punishment.
• B) They are literally looking for something in the trees of the school.Incorrect. This reads the idiom literally; the debate is about cheating and no trees are involved.
• C) The debate has become too noisy and aggressive.Incorrect. "Barking" here does not refer to noise; the idiom is about choosing the wrong target, as her second sentence shows.
• D) Students who cheat should be sent to plant trees.Incorrect. This turns the image of the tree into a punishment; Daniela actually argues against focusing on punishment.

Respuesta correcta: A) Juan should do the same things he tells other people to do.

• A) Juan should do the same things he tells other people to do.Correct. "Practise what you preach" means to act according to the advice you give; Pedro criticises Juan because his behaviour contradicts his message about recycling.
• B) Juan should give more talks about recycling at school.Incorrect. Pedro is not asking Juan to talk more; the problem is that Juan already talks about recycling but does not act that way.
• C) Juan should practise a sport to stay healthy.Incorrect. "Practise" here does not refer to sport; in the idiom it means to put your own advice into action.
• D) Juan is a good example for everyone to follow.Incorrect. Pedro's comment is a criticism, not praise: Juan's action at the beach contradicts what he tells others.

Respuesta correcta: D) The situation is not clearly right or clearly wrong.

• A) The shop is in a dangerous part of the city.Incorrect. "Area" here is not a physical place; the idiom refers to an unclear moral or legal situation.
• B) Keeping the money is clearly a crime.Incorrect. If Andrés thought it was clearly a crime, he would not call it a grey area; he presents arguments on both sides.
• C) Laura's question is boring and not important.Incorrect. "Grey" in this idiom is not about being dull; Andrés takes the question seriously and analyses it.
• D) The situation is not clearly right or clearly wrong.Correct. "A grey area" is a situation where the rules are unclear; Andrés gives one argument on each side (you didn't take it, but you know it isn't yours), showing it is neither black nor white.

Respuesta correcta: D) To argue against the idea, even if he may not reject it, so that it is tested.

• A) To say that the proposal is evil and immoral.Incorrect. The "devil" in the expression is not a moral judgement; Simón asks a question to test the idea, not to condemn it.
• B) To agree completely with the teacher and the class.Incorrect. He introduces an objection immediately after the teacher assumes agreement, so he is not simply agreeing.
• C) To ask the teacher to explain the word "generosity".Incorrect. Simón uses the word "generosity" correctly in his argument; he is questioning the proposal, not asking for a definition.
• D) To argue against the idea, even if he may not reject it, so that it is tested.Correct. To "play devil's advocate" is to present the opposite argument on purpose to test an idea; Simón raises a challenge after everyone agrees, so the class must defend its position.