From simply extracting the individual meanings of the words “moral issue”, we can identify

what moral issue means. When we say moral, it deal with proper observance of the rules by
which a society exhorts (as laws are the rules by which it seeks to compel) its members and
associations to behavior consistent with its order, security, and growth (Myers,2017). Issue, on
the other hand, is an important topic or problem for debate or discussion. It is something that
people are talking about, thinking about, or is primarily an important subject or topic. Putting
these two meanings together, I can conclude that moral issue is any experience or
circumstance a person or a group of people undergo that deal with moral perspectives or
ethical standards.
However, moral issues are not exclusively about things that harm the society because sometimes
these issues can lead to healthy discourses or discussions, but the notion or concept of moral
issue is generally about something that is a problem concerning morality. For example, here in
the Philippines, there are several moral issues in the country which result from poverty, lack of
indoctrination or training or system that will discipline people from unethical behaviors, failure
on the part of the school and churches and government institutions to teach good moral
characters to the people. The bracket includes corruption, physical and mental abuses, murders
and homicides and all other issues that cause damage to a few or a majority. All of these moral
issues fall on the wrong side which eventually caused by lack of funds, education, leadership and
implementation of good moral character and code of ethics as mentioned by Tupas (2018). With
this being said, moral issues on the systemic level needs more timely assessment because aside
from the fact that they evolve over time, they are becoming more pressing and more challenging
to deal with. Let’s take for example moral issues that deal with human rights such as death
penalty. The ongoing debate whether or not to reimplement this legal remedy is endless because
both the church and the state develop conflicting stances on this matter. Such decision to
reimplement this or otherwise is widely important because it is a public policy that will affect
everyone even the marginalized sectors since it is an issue that deals with the sanctity of life.
Generally, social issues are moral issues on a systemic level that must be given full attention and
proper decision-making because the welfare of the majority is at stake. Thus, there are three (3)
things that serve as points of assessment when talking about moral issue: 1) recognize that there
is an issue by identifying the problem and who is involved; and considering the relevant facts,
laws and moral principles, 2) analyze and determine possible courses of action and 3) implement
the solution.
Moral dilemma, on the contrary, is different form moral issue because specifically, it is a
situation where one must choose between two undesirable options, which often leads to one’s
having to choose between the lesser of “two evils”. A moral dilemma is a situation in which the
decision-maker has to give priority to one moral value over another (Brinkmann, 2005;
Maclagan, 2003; Toffler, 1986). Such dilemmas arise when, faced with a difficult situation (e.g.
fair treatment for some versus job security for others), two or more such values conflict in the
perception of a decision-maker, or when one is assessing another’s moral choice (Maclagan,
2003). A person who faces a dilemma must decide which moral duty to prioritize and whichever
action is taken. In a moral dilemma, it is impossible to live up to all of one’s moral convictions
and beliefs regarding how one should behave in that situation.
References:
Brinkmann, J. (2005). Understanding insurance customer dishonesty: Outline of a situational
approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 61(2), 183–197.
Maclagan, P. (2003). Varieties of moral issue and dilemma: A framework for the analysis of case
material in business ethics education. Journal of Business Ethics, 48(1), 21–32.
Myers, D. (2017). Examples of moral issues. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-are-
examples-of-moral-issues
Tupas, J. (2018). Moral issues in the Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-
are-the-moral-issues-in-the-Philippines