9 Moral Dilemmas That Will Break

Your Brain
Instruction: Answer (in yellow papers) the questions given below.
Always justify your answers with sound reasoning based on the
theories of Aquinas and Kant.

Your Best Friend's Wedding

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You are at your best friend’s wedding just an hour before the ceremony is to start. Earlier that day, you
came across definitive proof that your best friend’s spouse-to-be is having an affair with the best
man/maid of honor, and you catch them sneaking out of a room together looking disheveled. If you tell
your friend about the affair, their day will be ruined, but you don’t want them to marry a cheater. What
do you do? (Source: Listverse)

1. Tell your best friend; sure the day will be ruined, but better a day ruined than an entire life.
2. Say nothing; your job is to be supportive and participate in your friend’s happiness.
 Robbin' Hood

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You are an eyewitness to a crime: A man has robbed a bank, but instead of keeping the money for
himself, he donates it to a poor orphanage that can now afford to feed, clothe, and care for its children.
You know who committed the crime. If you go to the authorities with the information, there’s a good
chance the money will be returned to the bank, leaving a lot of kids in need. What do you do?
(Source:Listverse)

1. Turn the robber in to the authorities; right is right.

2. Say nothing since the money went to what you deem a good cause.
 Company Policy

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You have a job as network administrator for a company that also employs your best friend’s husband.
One day, your best friend’s husband sends you a message asking you to release an email from
quarantine. This requires you to open the email, at which point you discover that it’s correspondence
between this guy and his secret lover. After releasing the email, you find yourself in a pickle. Your
instinct is to tell your best friend about his husband’s infidelities, but divulging the contents of
company emails is against company policy and you could lose your job. Once it becomes plain that
your best friend found out about his cheating husband through a company email, all trails will
inevitably lead to you as the leak. Do you tell him about the indiscretion? (Source: PsychoPixi)

1. Yes; your loyalty to your best friend eclipses any company policy.
2. No; it sucks that your best friend has a cheating husband, but you can’t risk losing your job.
 A Sinking Sensation

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You’ve been on a cruise for two days when there’s an accident that forces everyone on board to
abandon ship. During the evacuation, one of the boats is damaged, leaving it with a hole that fills it
with water. You figure that with 10 people in the boat, you can keep the boat afloat by having nine
people scoop the filling water out by hand for 10 minutes while the 10th person rests. After that
person’s 10-minute rest, he or she will get back to work while another person rests, and so on. This
should keep the boat from sinking long enough for a rescue team to find you as long as it happens
within five hours. You’re taking your first brake when you notice your best friend in a sound lifeboat
with only nine people in it and he beckons you to swim over and join them so you won’t have to keep
bailing out water. If you leave the people in the sinking boat, they will only be able to stay afloat for
two hours instead of five, decreasing their chance of being rescued, but securing yours. What do you
do? (Source: Listverse)

1. Stay in your boat and hope that you are all rescued in five hours time, before the boat sinks
and you all drown.
2. Jump ship and join your friend in his boat and hope that the others are rescued within two
hours.
 The Accidental Samaritan

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You’re involved in a two-car crash on your way to work one morning in which you accidentally hit and
kill a pedestrian. As you get out of the car, you are intercepted by a tearful woman who seems to think
that she hit and killed the pedestrian. You’re not sure why she thinks she hit the person, but she is
convinced. There’s only you, the woman, and the person you hit on the road; there are no witnesses.
You know that whoever is deemed responsible will probably be sent to jail. What do you do?
(Source: Listverse)

1. Confess your responsibility; you wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of an innocent person
being in jail for a crime you committed.
2. Let the woman take the blame; the thought of being locked away from your life and family
is too much to bear.
 A Day At The Beach

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Your family is vacationing alone on a private stretch of beach with no lifeguard. Your daughter and
your niece, both 7, are best friends and eager to get into the water. You caution them to wait until the
water calms some, but they defy you and sneak in anyway. You soon hear screams of distress and find
them both caught in a strong current. You are the only swimmer strong enough to save them, but you
can only save one at a time. Your niece is a very poor swimmer and likely won’t make it much longer.
Your daughter is a stronger swimmer, but only has a 50% chance of holding on long enough for you to
come back for her. Who do you save first? (Source:Listverse)

1. Save your daughter first; you know that your niece will probably die, but you can’t bear to
lose your child.
2. Save your niece first and hope that your daughter can hold on long enough for you to come
back for her.
 The Spouse And The Lover

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You are an EMT on the scene of a car crash that involves your spouse and the lover you didn’t know
s/he had. They are both gravely injured, your spouse’s injuries the worst of them. You can tell it’s
unlikely s/he will pull through. Meanwhile, his/her lover has a neck wound that will prove fatal if
pressure isn’t applied soon. Whom do you choose to work on? (Source: PsychoPixi)

1. Work on your spouse; even though s/he cheated and probably won’t pull through, your
loyalty lies with them.
2. Work on his/her lover; they can definitely be saved, and even though you may hate them,
saving them is your job.
 A Difficult Decision

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Reuters
You and your son are prisoners at a concentration camp. You son tried to escape but was recaptured
and sentenced to hang at the gallows. To send a message to all others who may try to escape, the guard
orders you to pull the chair out from under your son; if you refuse, the guard will kill your son and
another innocent person in the camp. What do you do? (Source: Listverse)

1. Tearfully pull the chair out from under your son.

2. Refuse to pull the chair out from under your son, ensuring both his death and the death of
another inmate.
 A Doctor's Dilemma

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You are a doctor at a top hospital. You have six gravely ill patients, five of whom are in urgent need of
organ transplants. You can’t help them, though, because there are no available organs that can be used
to save their lives. The sixth patient, however, will die without a particular medicine. If s/he dies, you
will be able to save the other five patients by using the organs of patient 6, who is an organ donor.
What do you do? (Source: Listverse)

1. Keep patient 6 comfortable, but do not give him the medical care that could save his life in
order to save the other five patients.
2. Save patient 6 and let the other five die; it’s unfortunate, but that’s not your call to make.
 Ethical Dilemma

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the
doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had
recently discovered. the drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what
the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the
drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried
every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He
told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But
the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from if." So, having
tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal
the drug for his wife.

1. Should Heinz steal the drug?

1a. Why or why not?

2. Is it actually right or wrong for him to steal the drug?

2a. Why is it right or wrong?

3. Does Heinz have a duty or obligation to steal the drug?

3a. Why or why not?

4. If Heinz doesn't love his wife, should he steal the drug for her? Does it make a difference in what
Heinz should do whether or not he loves his wife?

4a. Why or why not?

5. Suppose the person dying is not his wife but a stranger. Should Heinz steal the drug for the
stranger?

5a. Why or why not?

6. Suppose it's a pet animal he loves. should Heinz steal to save the pet animal?

6a. Why or why not?

7. Is it important for people to do everything they can to save another's life?

7a. Why or why not?

8. It is against the law for Heinz to steal. Does that make it morally wrong?
8a. Why or why not?

9. In general, should people try to do everything they can to obey the law?

9a. Why or why not?

9b. How does this apply to what Heinz should do?

10. In thinking back over the dilemma, what would you say is the most responsible thing for Heinz
to do?

10a. Why?