ETHICAL DILEMMA

Definition of Ethical Dilemma:

An ethical dilemma (ethical paradox or moral dilemma) is a problem in the decision making
process between two possible options where both actions are absolutely acceptable from an
ethical perspective. In another word, Ethical dilemmas are situations in which an agent stands
under two (or more) conflicting ethical requirements, none of which overrides the other. Two
ethical requirements are conflicting if the agent can do one or the other but not both: the agent
has to choose one over the other. Two conflicting ethical requirements do not override  each
other if they have the same strength or if there is no sufficient ethical reason to choose one over
the another. Only this type of situation constitutes an ethical dilemma in the strict philosophical
sense.

Criteria of Ethical Dilemma:

 Two conflicting moral requirements.
 A person has two moral obligations, which cannot be met both at once.
 One option has to choose between both actions. A third option, such as not making a
choice, is not possible.

An Ethical Dilemma example that I heard from my cousin who face that
situation:

The ethical dilemma I will be focusing on for this paper occurred to my cousin Maria
during the period of her examination about one year ago. Maria’s classmate Riyana’s
hands were sweating. She was fifteen minutes into her math final when she began to
panic. This exam was worth most of her grade in the class. She understood   math—
even liked it—and usually did really well. Her constant problem was that  she wasn’t a
strong test-taker. Her grades never reflected her understanding of the material she
studied.
Now, here she was, once again stuck on one problem worth twenty-five points on the
test, and she was drawing a blank. She put her head down on the desk and
concentrated as hard as she could. She remembered doing a similar problem in class
and explaining it to my cousin Maria, but now she was so stressed out by the test, she
couldn’t even remember how to begin the problem.
She lifted her head and stared at her test. She listened to the clock tick on the wall and
imagined her parents’ expression when she receives her report card. Maria was sitting
right in front of her. She is always a good test taker and had already solved the
problem. The teacher had his backed turned and was on the other side of the room.
Riyana could look over Maria’s shoulder, get the answer, and  no one would know.
Riyana needed to think quickly. She thought about how unfair it was that she regularly
does badly on tests even though she works so hard in class and understands the
material, too.  She thought about how often she helped Maria in class throughout the
semester. Finally, she took a deep breath. She looked to see if the teacher was still on
the other side of the room, and glanced over Maria’s shoulder for asking the final
answer to the question.
 In that situation, Maria went into ethical dilemma because it was against the exam
rule and unethical on the other hand she thought about Riyana who helped her several
times in her studies. She felt she had sort of created an ethical compromise.

Outcome:
Ultimately, my cousin helped Riyana. Maria helped her with some particular
information of that problem that could be helpful to Riyana to figure out the solution.
Then, Riyana figured out the rest of the problem on her own. Maria felt she had sort of
created an ethical dilemma.

Response Analysis:
While my cousin made the decision to help her classmate Riyana, she did consider the
consequences of her various options .She thought to not violating the rules of the
exam hall and fairly completing the task. If she told the answer of that problem it not
would be fair enough .But Maria knew that Riyana is a hard working student and
Riyana helped her many times whenever she had faced any problem in her study. My
cousin considered briefly what would be the ethically right and ethically wrong action
to do in this scenario, but she did not apply any ethical theory or moral rule nor think
about what a person that she admire would do in this scenario. She may have had these
thoughts if she had no longer to access this situation.

Virtue Ethics and Response:

I believe the ethical approach that most resembled how my cousin handled this
situation would be virtue ethics. My cousin stepped into the situation because she
believed it was the right thing to do she wanted to helpful as her classmate Riyana was
being with her. She follows virtue ethics to overcome from that situation. Because
virtue ethics does not particularly deal with the rightness or wrongness of specific
actions, it guides the moral agent in seeking the good rather with the aid of practical
wisdom. By stepping into the situation, she exemplifying her personal values. If she
behaved differently, she would likely feel cognitive dissonance and might even be
forced to change her virtues as she did not live up to them.

Conclusion:
It is difficult to assess whether or not one’s ethics are what they should be. Because of
all the differing viewpoints on the nature of our existence and no one’s role in society,
there are numerous ethical perspectives that one can take on. It is important in my
opinion, that when one does decide on an ethical basis, that they stick to it in every
situation and do what is most ethical, as this what defines us as free-thinking and
compassionate humans.