--- title: Olympiad: fair or unfair, chains of reasons and dilemmas ★★★ — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Olympiad: fair or unfair, chains of reasons and dilemmas ★★★», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: "That's not fair!" is the most shouted sentence in any playground, and an olympiad asks you to test i --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Olympiad: fair or unfair, chains of re… # Olympiad: fair or unfair, chains of reasons and dilemmas ★★★ Lesson 103 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/0/) — "That's not fair!" is the most shouted sentence in any playground, and an olympiad asks you to test it: fair can mean equal shares, shares by need or shares by effort, and the right one depends on the situation. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/1/) — Think of a chain of reasons: "It's fair because it's the rule", "Why is the rule fair?", "Because the head said so", "Why?"; a good answer still stands after two or three "why?"s, and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/2/) — Chains of events work the same way: if Ali grabs Ben's ball, Ben shoves Ali, and Ali falls on Cal's sandcastle, each person owes a sorry for their own link, and nobody's sorry wipes out someone else's. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/3/) — The Bible has fairness puzzles too: Solomon found the real mother of a baby by watching who loved the child more than winning (1 Kings 3), Zacchaeus paid back four times what he had cheated (Luke 19:8), and the vineyard owner paid late workers the same as early ones (Matthew 20). - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/4/) — Watch the words: "everyone's allowed", "I NEVER get a go" and "it's only a bit unfair" are often hyperbole or downplaying, so check the real facts before you judge, and give reasons from rules, consequences and character. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/5/) — Fairness means no favourites; it can mean equal shares, shares by need, or shares by effort, and people disagree about which fits best in a given case. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/6/) — Equality gives everyone the same; equity gives each person what they need to have the same chance, like glasses for the child who cannot see the board. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/7/) — "One cuts, the other chooses" is fair because the cutter has every reason to make the two pieces equal. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/8/) — A fair rule is known to everyone before the game starts; changing it afterwards to suit one side is unfair. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/9/) — Fair ways to share something scarce include drawing lots, a waiting list and helping those in greatest need; choosing your friends is favouritism. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/10/) — In 1 Kings 3, two women claimed one baby; Solomon ordered it cut in two, and the real mother begged him to give the baby to the other woman rather than let it die, so he gave it to her. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/11/) — Zacchaeus, a tax collector, promised to give half his possessions to the poor and to pay back four times anyone he had cheated (Luke 19:8). - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/12/) — In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, every worker received the one coin agreed, and the owner asked, "Are you envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:15); people still argue about what the story teaches. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/13/) — The Golden Rule appears in many traditions: Jesus said "Do to others what you would have them do to you" (Matthew 7:12), and the Jewish teacher Hillel said "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/14/) — "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong" (Exodus 23:2): "everyone does it" is not a reason that something is fair. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/15/) — Rules thinking asks "what is my duty?", consequences thinking asks "what will happen to everyone?", and character thinking asks "what would a good person do?" - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/16/) — Many people think it unfair to punish a whole class for what one person did, though teachers sometimes do it when nobody owns up; it is disputed. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/17/) — A strong olympiad answer gives reasons, faces the best argument on the other side, and treats the other team with respect. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/103-olympiad-fair-or-unfair-chains-of-reasons-and-dilemmas/18/) — Slang check: "bare" (London) means lots of; "mardy" (Midlands, North) means sulky; "sus" means suspicious; "y'all" means you all; "no cap" means no lie. - ← previous: [Olympiad: Bible stories in order and festivals of many faiths ★★★](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/102-olympiad-bible-stories-in-order-and-festivals-of-many-faiths/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)