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What Would You Do When Faced A Difficult Situation?

The document discusses moral dilemmas, which are situations that force a moral agent to choose between two or more conflicting options that are both morally unacceptable. It outlines several key features of moral dilemmas, including that the agent is required to perform mutually exclusive actions and will fail morally no matter their choice. Finally, it describes eight different types of moral dilemmas, such as those involving conflicting duties, obligations, or prohibitions for the moral agent.

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Adriel Marasigan
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339 views28 pages

What Would You Do When Faced A Difficult Situation?

The document discusses moral dilemmas, which are situations that force a moral agent to choose between two or more conflicting options that are both morally unacceptable. It outlines several key features of moral dilemmas, including that the agent is required to perform mutually exclusive actions and will fail morally no matter their choice. Finally, it describes eight different types of moral dilemmas, such as those involving conflicting duties, obligations, or prohibitions for the moral agent.

Uploaded by

Adriel Marasigan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What would you do when faced a

difficult situation?
A dilemma is a situation where a person
is forced to choose between two or more
conflicting options, neither of which is
acceptable.
MORAL/ETHICAL
DILEMMA
When dilemmas involve human actions which have
moral implications, they are called ethical or moral
dilemmas. Moral dilemmas, therefore, 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.
Crucial Features of Moral Dilemma
Crucial Features of Moral Dilemma

A. The agent is required to do each of two (or more)


actions;

This action would lead to both options (actions) being


compromised and the agent is required to create a decision
that would weigh both options and create and find a middle
ground between the actions.
Crucial Features of Moral Dilemma

B. The agent can do each of the actions; but the agent


cannot do both (or all) of the actions.

This is focused on how we have certain options and actions,


but we can’t do both since its either both contradictory, or the
other option is not morally right, giving us the freedom to
only choose one (the best) of the options (actions) given.
Crucial Features of Moral Dilemma

C. 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).

This states that no matter what an agent would do, his


action would lead to failure, and he would be a source
of moral failure.
Crucial Features of Moral Dilemma

C. 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).

This states that no matter what an agent would do, his


action would lead to failure, and he would be a source
of moral failure.
Is this a moral dilemma? Why or why not?
Types of Moral Dilemma
Types of Moral Dilemma
1. Epistemic moral dilemma
• Involves situations wherein two or more moral requirements conflict
with each other.
• The moral agent hardly knows which of the conflicting moral
requirements takes precedence over the other.
• The moral agent does not know which option is morally right or
wrong.
• There are conflicting duties in the situation
• The person should analyze the situation that one option must be better
than the other.
Example

A mother promised her son to be home early but there’s an urgent


situation – a sick old man who needs to be brought to the hospital.
Types of Moral Dilemma

2. Ontological moral dilemma


• Involves situations wherein two or more moral requirements conflict
with each other
• Neither of these conflicting moral requirements overrides each other.
• Neither of the moral requirements is stronger than the other.
• The moral agent can hardly choose between the conflicting moral
requirements.
Example

A military doctor is attending to the medical aid of the wounded


soldiers in the middle of the war. Two soldiers urgently need a
blood transfusion but only one bag of blood is available at a
moment.
Types of Moral Dilemma

3. Self-imposed Moral Dilemma


• a moral dilemma caused by the moral agent’s wrongdoing
Example

A candidate is running for the position of a mayor. He promised the citizens to protect
the forest surrounding the city to gain votes. But he seeks financial support from a
mining company. After the elections, he won the position and at the same time, the
mining company allowed to perform the mining operation in the vicinity.
Types of Moral Dilemma

4. World-imposed Moral Dilemma


• means that certain events in the world place the agent in a situation of
moral conflict.
Example

The problem of world hunger is a world-imposed moral dilemma that can


be solved but the government and other agencies fails to address to, we
are thrown into the world, as a source of answer to that solution, we are
imposed, or we are tasked to address that problem and solve it.
Types of Moral Dilemma

5. Obligation Moral Dilemma


• situations in which more than one feasible action is obligatory
Example

In the situation in a war-torn country, young children are forced to join


the ranks as soldiers for the war due to lack of armed forces in the
country.
Types of Moral Dilemma

6. Prohibition Moral Dilemma


• involve cases in which all feasible actions are forbidden
Example

The psychopath killer told you that you need to kill one of your kids and if
you do that he will never comeback anymore but if you didn’t do that he
will kill all of your family members.
Types of Moral Dilemma

7. Single agent Moral Dilemma


• the moral agent is compelled to act on two or more equally the same
moral options, but he cannot choose both.
Example

A medical doctor found out that her patient has HIV. The medical doctor may
experience tension between the legal requirement to report the case and the desire to
respect confidentiality, although the medical code of ethics acknowledges our
obligation to follow legal requirements and to intervene to protect the vulnerable.
Types of Moral Dilemma

8. Multi-person Moral Dilemma


• occurs in situations that involve several persons like a family, an
organization, or a community who is expected to come up with
consensual decision on a moral issue at hand.
• requires more than choosing what is right
• it also entails that the persons involved reached a general consensus.
• the moral obligation to do what is right becomes more complicated.
Example

An organization may have to choose between complying with the wage


law by cutting its workforce or by retaining its current workforce by
paying them below the required minimum wage.

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