1.

4 MORAL MATERIAL:
MORAL DILEMMA BY
DILEMMAS TERRANCE
MCCONNELL
A. WHAT STANFORD
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

CONSTITUTES A PHILOSOPHY

MORAL LINK:
HTTPS://PLATO.STANFO

DILEMMA? RD.EDU/ENTRIES/MOR
AL-DILEMMAS/

[M1: WEEK4]
  What is moral dilemma?

 How does a moral dilemma in ethics differ from other

dilemmas?

 What are moral dilemma examples?

 What are the three levels of moral dilemmas?

 MORAL DILEMMA MEANING AND
DILEMMA

 Basically, the word ‘dilemma’ refers to a situation in

which a tough choice must be made between two or
more options, especially more or less equally
undesirable ones.

 From this meaning or definition alone, we can see

that not all dilemmas are moral dilemmas.
 ‘WHAT IS MORAL DILEMMA?’

 also called ‘ethical dilemma,’ moral dilemmas are situations

in which a difficult choice must be made between two
courses of action, either of which entails transgressing a
moral principle

 moral dilemmas involve conflicts between moral

requirements
 IN DISCUSSING MORAL DILEMMAS, THE ONLINE STANFORD
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY GIVES THIS EXAMPLE FROM THE
BOOK I OF PLATO’S REPUBLIC:

 “… Cephalus defines ‘justice’ as speaking the truth and paying one’s debts. Socrates quickly
refutes this account by suggesting that it would be wrong to repay certain debts—for example,
to return a borrowed weapon to a friend who is not in his right mind.’

 “Socrates’ point is not that repaying debts is without moral import; rather, he wants to show
that it is not always right to repay one’s debts, at least not exactly when the one to whom the
debt is owed demands repayment.’

“What we have here is a conflict between two moral norms: repaying one’s debts and protecting
others from harm…” (“Moral Dilemmas,” n.d.)

 Notice that what is common to moral dilemmas is conflict. In each ethical dilemma, an agent
regards himself as having moral reasons to do each of two actions, but doing both actions seems
to be ethically not possible.
 MORAL DILEMMA IN ETHICS
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE KEY FEATURES OF A MORAL DILEMMA:

(a) the agent is required to do each of two (or more) actions;

(b) the agent can do each of the actions; but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions.

 Thus, in moral dilemmas, the agent appears condemned to moral failure. That is, no matter what
he does, he will do something wrong, or fail to do something that he ought to do.
 In the example above (the case given by Plato) many would say that it is more important
to protect people from harm than to return a borrowed weapon. Or some would suggest
that the borrowed item can be returned later, when the owner no longer poses a threat to
others.

 Thus, we can say that the moral requirement to protect others from serious harm overrides the
ethical requirement to repay one’s debts by returning a borrowed item even when its owner so
demands.
 Nonetheless, there are ethicists who propose that when one of the conflicting moral
requirements overrides the other, the case is not a ‘genuine moral dilemma.’

 Therefore, in order to have a genuine moral dilemma, some add that it must also be the case that:
(c) neither of the conflicting moral requirements is overridden.
 THE THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMAS

a) Personal Dilemmas - those experiences resolved on the personal level as many

ethical decisions are personally made, many, if not most of, moral dilemmas fall
under, or boil down to, this level.

 French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre gave an example or a case that could exemplify
a personal moral dilemma:
 “Sartre tells of a student whose brother had been killed in the German offensive of
1940. The student wanted to avenge his brother and to fight forces that he
regarded as evil. But the student’s mother was living with him, and he was her one
consolation in life.’
 “The student believed that he had conflicting obligations. Sartre describes him as
being torn between two kinds of morality: one of limited scope but certain efficacy,
personal devotion to his mother; the other of much wider scope but uncertain
efficacy, attempting to contribute to the defeat of an unjust aggressor.” (“Moral
Dilemmas,” n.d.)
 We can give many other examples of personal moral dilemmas. If someone makes
conflicting promises, he faces a moral conflict. When an individual must choose
between the life of a child who is about to be delivered and the child’s mother, he
faces an ethical dilemma.
b) Organizational Dilemmas - basically, ethical cases encountered and resolved by
social organizations are organizational moral dilemmas that includes moral
dilemmas in business, medical field, and public sector.
 For example, a hospital that believes human life should not be deliberately
shortened, and that unpreventable pain should not be tolerated encounters a
conflict in resolving whether to withdraw life support from a dying patient.
This is a common moral dilemma faced by healthcare organizations and
medical institutions.

 Moral dilemmas also arise in professional work. Administrative bodies in business

are confronted with situations in which several courses of action are possible but
none of them provide a totally successful outcome to those affected by the decision
or actions taken.
 These moral dilemmas in business involve issues about corporate practices,
policies, business behaviors, and the conducts and relationships of individuals
in the organizations. Other business-related dilemmas pertain to the social
responsibility of businesses, employee rights, harassment, labor unions,
misleading advertising, job discrimination, and whistle blowing.
CONTINUATION ON ORGANIZATIONAL DILEMMAS

 On the part of public sector, government leaders and employees have a moral duty
to act in a manner that is fair and unbiased. They should be loyal to the public and
ought to put public interest before personal gain, and fulfill duties of competency,
integrity, accountability, and transparency.
 Having said that, public officials nonetheless may encounter foreseeable moral
dilemmas in fulfilling these ideals. So ethical or moral dilemmas which arise
include the following examples:
 whether or not to favor family, friends, or campaign contributors over other
constituents;
 favoring the agenda of one’s political party over a policy one believes to be
good for the community;
 dealing with conflicting public duties inherent in serving both as a council
member and as a member of an agency or commission;
 resigning from organizations in which membership may give rise to future
conflicts;
 becoming whistle blower even if it means potentially derailing a policy
objective one is pursuing; and,
 accepting gifts if it is legally permitted but creates the appearance of
impropriety.
c) Structural Dilemmas - pertain to cases involving network of institutions and
operative theoretical paradigms. As they usually encompass multi-sectoral
institutions and organizations, they may be larger in scope and extent than
organizational dilemmas.
 An example is the prices of medicine in the Philippines which are higher
compared to other countries in Asia and in countries of similar economic
status. Factors affecting medicine prices include the cost of research, presence
of competition in the market, government regulations, and patent protection.

 The institutions concerned may want to lower the costs of medicine, thereby
benefiting the Filipino public, but such a move may ruin the interests or legal
rights of the involved researchers, inventors or discoverers, and pharmaceutical
companies which own the patent of the medicines or healthcare technologies.

https://myinfobasket.com/what-is-moral-dilemmas/
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS

1. Epistemic moral dilemmas - involve situations wherein two or more moral

requirements conflict with each other and that the moral agent hardly knows
which of the conflicting moral requirements takes precedence over the other.

2. Ontological moral dilemmas - are situations wherein two or more moral

requirements conflict with each other, yet neither of these conflicting moral
requirements override each other.

3. Self-imposed moral dilemma - is caused by the moral agent’s wrongdoings.

4. World-imposed moral dilemma - means that certain events in the world

place the agent in a situation of moral conflict.
 CONTINUATION TYPES…

5. Obligation dilemmas - are situations in which more than one feasible

action is obligatory.

6. Prohibition dilemmas - involve cases in which all feasible actions are

forbidden.

7. Single agent dilemma - the moral agent is compelled to act on two or more
equally the same moral options, but she cannot choose both.

8. Multi-person dilemma - “…the situation is such that one agent, P1, ought
to do A, a second agent, P2, ought to do B, and though each agent can do
what he ought to do, it is not possible both for P1 to do A and P2 to do B.”
 IN CONCLUSION…

 Debates about moral dilemmas have been extensive during the last six decades.
These debates go to the heart of moral theory.

 Both supporters and opponents of moral dilemmas have major burdens to bear.
 Opponents of dilemmas must show why appearances are deceiving. Why are
examples of apparent dilemmas misleading? Why are certain moral emotions
appropriate if the agent has done no wrong?
 Supporters must show why several of many apparently plausible principles
should be given up—principles such as PC, PD, OP, D, ‘ought’ to imply ‘can’,
and the agglomeration principle. And each side must provide a general account
of obligations, explaining whether none, some, or all can be overridden in
circumstances. Much progress has been made, but the debate is apt to continue.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-dilemmas/
 ASSIGNED READING

 Ethical Reasoning and Arguments pp. 9-11

 Example of classic, modern, and everyday moral
dilemmas

 Material: Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues

 Author: Barbara MacKinnon
 Link: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337515443