GEC – ETHICS (REVIEWER: 1ST SEM)
LESSON 3: MORAL DILEMMAS
MORAL DILEMMA - a situation which requires you
to choose between two or more actions using
moral standards as basis for judging right and
wrong.
 It may present you something morally
right action but produce bad outcome,
and something morally wrong action but
produce good or better outcome. In a
sense, no matter what you choose you
ultimately compromise some values.
THREE CONDITIONS OF MORAL DILEMMA
Karen Allen lists down three conditions as
situations of moral dilemmas.
1) Moral agent is obliged to make a decision
that is best.
2) There must be different course of actions
to choose from.
3) No matter what course of action is taken,
some moral principles are compromised.
TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMA
EPISTEMIC MORAL DILEMMA - the moral agent
hardly knows which option is morally right or
wrong.
ONTOLOGICAL MORAL DILEMMAS - the moral
agent knows the morality of action, but neither
the conflicting options is stronger than the other.
SELF-IMPOSED MORAL DILEMMA - conflicting
options are made by the moral agent’s
wrongdoing, i.e., impossibility of fulfilling both
obligations.
WORLD-IMPOSED MORAL DILEMMA - certain
event in the world places the moral agent in a
moral conflict – e.g., a mother has to choose
whether daughter or son to be sent to gas
chamber.
OBLIGATION DILEMMAS - one feasible action is
obligatory
PROHIBITION DILEMMAS - all feasible actions are
forbidden.
SINGLE AGENT DILEMMA - moral agent is
compelled to act on two or more equally the same
moral options, but she cannot choose both, e.g.,
medical doctor faced option of revealing HIV of
her patient in terms of legal requirement to report
the case and the desire to respect confidentiality.
MULTI-PERSON DILEMMA - involve several
persons expected to come up with consensual
decision, e.g., a family may face decision of
terminating the life of family member, city
government may be torn with the option of
placing the entire city under lockdown, etc.
FURTHER ASSIGNED READING
(WEBSITE)
BOOK I Plato's Republic:
Cephalus defines ‘justice’ as speaking the truth
and paying one’s debts.
The crucial features of a moral dilemma are
these:
 The agent is required to do each of two
(or more) actions; the agent can do each
of the actions; but the agent cannot do
both (or all) of the actions.
 The agent thus seems condemned to
moral failure; no matter what she does,
she will do something wrong (or fail to do
something that she ought to do).