The correct answer is (D).
(D) Principle (Apply/Inference)
Step 1: Identify the Question Type
The stimulus asks for an individual whose actions exemplify the ethicist's criteria for "the most advanced kind of moral motivation." Taking the ethicist's criteria as a rule or principle, apply it to the actions described in each answer choice. Only the correct answer will feature a person acting in accordance with the ethicist's description of the "most advanced" morality.
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus
The stimulus defines the "most advanced kind of moral motivation" straightaway: It is "based solely on abstract principles." The second sentence defines what is not "most advanced": "calculated self-interest" and conformity to social norms.
Step 3: Make a Prediction
The correct answer will describe someone behaving in a way that is motivated solely by abstract principles and that is not motivated by self-interest, a desire to conform, or both.
Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(D) is an example of a person who behaves according to a belief that protecting the environment is more important than money. The individual here is motivated by an abstract ideal and shuns self-interest, so this answer meets the ethicist's definition of advanced moral motivation.
(A) has a person who acts because he fears he will look stingy. This self-interested adherence to social norms is the opposite of advanced moral motivation.
(B) is incorrect because it has a person who acts to improve his employer's opinion of him. This is an example of acting from self-interest, the opposite of the ethicist's advanced moral motivation.
(C) is also incorrect because Donna is acting in self-interest. She fears retaliation from her employers, so she is not acting in accordance with advanced moral motivation.
(E) is incorrect because Leigh is acting to conform to her colleague's expectations while avoiding the abstract ideal. Desiring to adhere to social norms and conventions goes against the ethicist's definition of advanced moral motivation.
