Which version is correct?

[hypatia_]

Which sentence is correct in terms of what happens following the comma after the word "vulnerable?" I'm not sure whether to use the word "that" following the comma.

1) Just because the theory doesn’t claim anything about exploitation of the vulnerable, doesn’t mean it would benefit a moral community to do so.

2) Just because the theory doesn’t claim anything about exploitation of the vulnerable, that doesn’t mean it would benefit a moral community to do so.

Also, would this be a matter of grammar or syntax? I am confused as to which means what.

Thank you`!

[Lyn05]

Hi hypatia,

I'm not sure if using 'that' is actually wrong, but it seems that it is usually not used. I found some examples from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): 9275.

Hope that helps!

-Lyn

[YesNo]

I would use (1) without the comma, but I have no real justification for doing so. I didn't understand what the community was supposed "to do". This is what I thought you meant, but why would a moral community consider exploiting the vulnerable?


Just because the theory doesn’t claim anything about exploitation of the vulnerable does not mean it would benefit a moral community to exploit the vulnerable.

[Calidore]

I agree with YesNo; the first choice without the comma is the way to go.

[AuntShecky]

I agree with YesNo; the first choice without the comma is the way to go.

Yes. The whole phrase
Just because the theory doesn’t claim anything about exploitation of the vulnerable is the subject of the sentence.
doesn't mean is the verb. A comma would make a "comma splice," separating the subject from the verb. (The rest of the sentence:
it would benefit a moral community to do sois the object of the verb. You could put "that" in front of "it."

Just because the theory doesn't claim anything about exploitation of the vulnerable doesn't mean that it would benefit a moral community to do so.

In any event, it's still an awkward, abstract, and nebulous sentence.

[108 fountains]

Agree with the above. You also could use the second sentence if you substituted "although" for "just because." Although we are talking about your specific example, that doesn't mean they couldn't apply to any sentence beginning with "Just because..."
Even then, it's an awkward structure that could probably be better rewritten a number of ways.