NAME: SARONG, CHARMAY G.

YR/CRSE/SEC: 1BSTM-B
DATE SUBMITTED: JUNE 12, 2022
ACTIVITY NUMBER: 7
SUBJECT/COURSE: GE8:  ETHICS

Heinz’s wife was dying because of a special kind of cancer. There was only

one medicine that the doctors thought might cure her, but it was an advanced

formula that a pharmaceutical company had recently discovered. This drug was

extremely costly to produce due to high-cost equipment and singular production

techniques. On top of that, the company was selling the drug at a price tenfold the

production costs. Heinz went to everyone he knew to borrow money but he could

only collect half of what the drug costs. He sought an audience with the CEO of the

pharmaceutical company, told him that his wife was dying and begged him to sell

the drug cheaper or allowed him to defer the payment. But the CEO refused. He

couldn’t make any exception as they had spent massive funds in the research and

equipment, and turning in a profit was the top priority for the company.

Heinz was devastated, and at wit’s end about what he should do next. In the

end, he broke into the company and stole the drug for his wife.

Think about this. If you were to pick one of the answers below, which one would you CHOOSE?
Place a check on the space provided.

_____ 1. Heinz should steal the drug but be incarcerated because he broke the

law.

____ 2. Heinz should steal the drug but NOT be incarcerated because the law

would be unjust if it penalized an individual for saving a life.

_____ 3. Heinz should steal the drug because he’s a good husband and it’s

expected of him to do so by his wife.

_____ 4. Heinz should NOT steal the drug because he would be put to prison for

his crime.

__√___ 5. Heinz should steal the drug because saving a life is more important than

breaking the law.

_____ 6. Heinz should steal the drug because he would feel gratified and happier.

WHY?

The scenario above is an updated version of Heinz's Dilemma, the most well-known of Lawrence
Kohlberg's series of moral dilemmas. A man named Heinz is in this precarious situation in the
original. His wife is sick, and the medicine is the only way to save her.

Because there are no right or wrong solutions to issues like this, the dilemmas were not designed
to elicit right-or-wrong answers. Instead, they were designed to discover the kind of reasoning
we may employ to resolve real-life moral quandaries.

In most cases, one conduct is unethical, while the other is morally correct. A classic example is
stealing to feed your family. While stealing is unethical, there are times when it is the morally
proper thing to do, such as when saving a life.