Examples of Moral Dilemmas

A Moral dilemma or ethical dilemma is a situation, real or hypothetical, in which we must choose a course of action in the midst of two or more alternatives in conflict, without any of them being completely acceptable or rejectable from a point of view. moral view. It is a situation in which doing good and doing evil is not so easy to differentiate, and in which a deeper reflection is needed to try to build a argument for or against each alternative. And there are therefore no right and wrong answers.

Moral and ethical dilemmas are very common tools in teaching and philosophical reflection, since they invite us to reflect from new points of view regarding what we traditionally consider to be right and wrong, good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable. The ancient Greeks, devoted as they were to philosophical thought, created and employed numerous "philosophical paradoxes," which they were unsolvable theoretical problems whose purpose was to teach how to think about certain issues and to problematize certain notions fundamental.

The word dilemma comes from the Greek dilemma, made up of the voices gave- ("two and motto (“premise”), so that a dilemma is a critical point at which a choice must be made between two premises or two opposing and irreconcilable theses. The ancient Greeks, devoted to philosophical thought, created and used numerous "philosophical paradoxes", which were unsolvable theoretical problems whose purpose was to teach how to think about certain issues and to problematize certain notions fundamental.

Types of moral dilemmas

Broadly speaking, moral dilemmas can be of two types:

examples of moral dilemmas

Some examples of moral dilemmas (real and hypothetical) are the following:

1. A polar bear corners a couple of explorers in a cave. And although they are temporarily safe, it soon begins to get dark, so locked up there they will both die of cold during the night. So they devise a plan: one of the two must distract the bear and allow the other to escape, although it is very unlikely that he will be able to return with help. One of them is young and begins a brilliant academic career; the other is older, has two children and a wife, and holds a prestigious position in academia. Which should be sacrificed and which should escape? And for what reasons?
2. A farm in Europe uses migrant workers to harvest its currants, paying them well below the legal wage. The workers know this, but they still work because they send a good part of the money they earn to their families, and without that money they wouldn't have enough to eat. One day a passerby rebukes the exploiting landowner and threatens to report him to the police, until he explains that if it is governed by the salary of law, it would have to pay only half of the workers and the other half would remain in the Street. Should the landowner be reported to the police? What is the best for migrants?
3. A very poor woman with five children meets a rich but sterile couple, and the latter proposes to keep her youngest child, barely months old, to raise him as their own. They would give him a house, food, a first class education and great life opportunities, but in return they ask that the boy never know the truth about his origin. Should the mother accept the deal and give up one of her children, or keep him but sentence him to poverty?
4. The driver of a school bus full of children realizes that he has lost his brakes, and drives away. hurrying down a cobbled road where you could stop the bus, but it's packed with pedestrians. He could avoid running them over if he throws the bus off a cliff, but he would doom the children he has on board to die. How should the driver act?
5. A terrible plague decimates humanity and virtually wipes out civilization. Among the survivors, scientists discover a boy who appears to be immune to the disease, and want to use it to synthesize a cure, but the procedure is so invasive that the boy cannot he would survive. Should doctors kill an innocent child to save the lives of millions?
6. In the middle of a war, a soldier is wounded on the battlefield, and his life is saved by a defecting enemy soldier. Both hide until the battle is over and the wounded soldier's side is victorious. When his fellow victors discover them, the wounded soldier must make a decision: let his comrades execute the enemy soldier, or speak out in defense of him and risk having him executed as well. What should you do?
7. In the midst of an epidemic, hospitals become overcrowded with critically ill patients and resources begin to run out. Doctors must then choose which patients have access to intensive care and have a chance of survival, and which instead must face certain death. What criteria should doctors use to choose? Should the opportunity be given to the younger ones with their lives ahead of them or to the older ones?
8. A thief is caught red-handed trying to make off with a shipment of food. The policemen who stop him ask him what the shipment was for and the thief tells them that it is to give it to the poorest people in the city. Would it be okay for the police to let the offender go with the food? Is it right to punish those who fight against the hunger of the masses?
9. What is preferable: that an innocent person go to jail for a crime he did not commit, or that the guilty of a crime committed go free?

References:

• "Dilemma" in Wikipedia.
• “ethical dilemma” in Wikipedia.
• "Moral dilemmas" Andalusian Government (Spain).
• “Ethics and moral reasoning. Moral dilemmas and ethical behavior in organizations” by Luisa Montuschi in the University of the Argentine Macroeconomic Center (UCEMA).
• "Moral dilemmas" in educate (Chile).

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