STANDARDS OF MORALITY

MORAL DILEMMAS
Samaika P. Canalin
 DILEMMA?
 It is the situation where
a person is forced to
choose between two or
more conflicting
options, neither of which
is acceptable.
What is your interpretation about this
photo?
 MORAL DILEMMAS
 Are situations where
persons, who are called
“moral agents” in ethics,
are forced to choose
between two or more
conflicting options,
neither of which
resolves the situation in
a morally acceptable
manner.
 MORAL DILEMMAS
In moral dilemmas, the moral agent “seems fated to
commit something wrong, which implies that he/she
bound to morally fail because in one way or another
he/she will fail to do something which he/she ought to
do.

In other words, by choosing one of the possible moral

requirements, the person also fails on others.

- Benjiemen Labastin
MORAL DILEMMAS
CONDITIONS TO BE CALLED A MORAL
DILEMMA
A.) The person or the agent of a moral action id
obliged to make decision about which course of
action is best;
B.) There must be different courses of action to
choose from;
C.) No matter which course of action the moral
agent chooses, there is always the moral
principle that is compromised.
 LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA
1ST LEVEL
INDIVUDUAL

A person, or an individual, has two or more

moral values to consider, he or she can choose
one only, and choosing one or the other will not
solve the problem in a moral way.
 LEVELS OF DILEMMA
2ND LEVEL
ORGANIZATIONAL

Can take any forms and these are the moral

problems in the workplace.
 LEVELS OF DILEMMA
3RD LEVEL
STRUCTURAL

Refer to moral predicaments in public

administration.
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMA
EPISTEMIC MORAL
DILEMMAS
 There are two or more
requirements that conflict with
each other;
 The moral agent hardly knows
which one takes precedence
over the other.
ONTOLOGICAL MORAL
DILEMMAS
 There are two or more
requirements that conflict with
each other, yet neither of these
conflicting moral requirements
overrides each other.
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMAS
SELF-IMPOSED MORAL WORLD-IMPOSED MORAL
DILEMMA DILEMMA
 Caused by the moral agent’s  Certain events in the world
wrong doings. place the moral agent in a
situation of moral conflict.
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMA
OBLIGATION DILEMMAS PROHIBITION DILEMMAS
 More than one feasible action  All feasible actions are
is obligatory. forbidden.
 TYPES OF MORAL DILEMMA
SINGLE AGENT DILEMMA
 The agent “ought, all things
considered, to do X, ought all
things considered to do Y, and
he cannot do both X and Y.
MULTI-PERSON DILEMMA
 One agent R1, ought to do X, a
second agent R2, ought to do Y,
and though each agent can do the
he ought to do, it is not possible
both for R1 to do X and R2 to do
Y.
 The multi-person dilemma
requires more than choosing
what is right, it is also entails that
the persons involved reached a
general consensus.