Ethical dilemmas: what they are, types and 5 examples that will make you think.

Several hypothetical situations that will make you doubt about what is the right thing to do.

Ethics and morality are constructs that regulate human behavior and allow its direction and allow its direction to what both individually (ethics) and collectively (morals) is considered acceptable and positive. What is good and what is bad, what we should do and what we should not do, and even what aspects we care about and value are largely derived from our ethical system.

But sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we do not know what to do: choosing A or B has, in both cases, negative and positive repercussions at the same time and the different values that govern us come into conflict. We are facing situations that involve ethical dilemmas.

A part of moral philosophy

An ethical dilemma is any situation in which there is a conflict between different situation in which there is a conflict between the different values of the person and the available options for action.. These are situations in which there is a conflict between several values and beliefs, where there is no totally good solution and no totally bad option, with both positive and negative repercussions at the same time.

This type of dilemma requires a more or less profound reflection on the alternatives available to us, as well as on the value given to the moral values by which we are governed. Often we will have to prioritize one or the other value, and both will be in conflict when making a decision. They also allow us to see that things are not black and white, as well as to understand people who make decisions that are different from our own. understand people who make decisions that are different from their own..

The existence of existing or possible ethical dilemmas in real life has generated an interesting branch of study centered on our beliefs and values and how they are managed.

They allow us to see how we reflect and what elements we take into account when making a decision. In fact, ethical dilemmas are often used as a mechanism to educate in the use and management of ethical dilemmas. educating in the use and management of emotions and valuesThey are also used in the workplace to raise awareness of certain aspects or to generate debate and share points of view among people. They are also used in the workplace, specifically in personnel selection.

Types of ethical dilemmas

The concept of ethical dilemma may seem clear, but the truth is that there is not just one type. Depending on various criteria, we can find different types of dilemmas, which may vary in their level of concreteness, in the role of the subject to whom they are presented or in their plausibility. In this sense, some of the main types are the following:

1. hypothetical dilemma.

These are dilemmas that place the person being asked in a position in which he/she finds him/herself confronted with a situation that is confronted with a situation that is very unlikely to happen in real life.. These are not impossible phenomena, but they are something that the person must face on a daily basis on a regular basis. It is not necessary for the person to whom the dilemma is posed to be the protagonist of the dilemma, and it is possible to ask what the character should do.

2. Real dilemma

In this case, the dilemma is about an issue or situation that is close to the person to whom it arises, either because it refers to an event they have experienced or something that can occur relatively easily in their daily lives. Although they are usually less dramatic than the previous ones, can be as or more distressing for this reason. for this reason. It is not necessary that the person to whom the dilemma is posed is the protagonist of the dilemma, and it is possible to ask what the character should do.

3. Open or solution dilemma

The dilemmas presented as open or solution dilemmas are all those dilemmas in which a situation and the circumstances surrounding it are presented, without the protagonist of the story (who may or may not be the subject to whom the dilemma is presented) having yet taken any action to solve it. It is intended that the person to whom this dilemma is suggested chooses how to proceed in that situation.

4. Closed or analysis dilemma

This type of dilemma is one in which the situation has already been solved in one way or another, having made a decision and carried out a series of specific behaviors. The person to whom the dilemma is posed should not decide what to do, but rather evaluate the protagonist's actions..

5. Complete dilemmas

These are all those dilemmas in which the person who is presented with the dilemma is informed of the consequences of each of the options that can be taken.

6. Incomplete dilemmas

In these dilemmas, the consequences of the decisions made by the protagonist are not made explicit, depending to a great extent on the subject's capacity to imagine advantages and disadvantages.

Examples of ethical dilemmas

As we have seen, there are very different ways of proposing different types of ethical dilemmas, there being thousands of options and being limited only by one's own imagination. The following are some examples of some examples of ethical dilemmas (some well known, others less so) in order to see how they work.

1. Heinz dilemma

One of the best known ethical dilemmas is the Heinz dilemma, proposed by Kohlberg to analyze the level of moral development of children and adolescents (inferring from the type of moral development (inferred from the type of response, the reason for the response given, the level of obedience to the rules or the relative importance of following them in some cases). This dilemma is presented as follows:

"Heinz's wife is sick with cancer, and is expected to die soon if nothing is done to save her. However, there is an experimental drug that doctors believe may save her life: a form of radium that a pharmacist has just discovered. Although this substance is expensive, the pharmacist in question is charging many times more money than it costs him to produce it (it costs him $1,000 and he charges $5,000). Heinz raises as much money as he can to buy it, relying on the help and borrowing money from everyone he knows, but he only manages to raise $2,500 of the $5,000 the product costs. Heinz goes to the pharmacist, to whom he tells that his wife is dying and to whom he asks to sell him the medicine at a lower price or to let him pay half later. The pharmacist however refuses, arguing that he must make money from him since he is the one who discovered it. That said, Heinz becomes desperate and considers stealing the medicine." What should he do?

2. Streetcar Dilemma

The streetcar or train dilemma is another classic among ethical/moral dilemmas, created by Philippa Foot. In this dilemma the following is proposed:

"A tram/train runs out of control and at full speed on a track, shortly before a switch change. Five people are tied to the track and will die if the train/tram reaches them. You are in front of the switch and you have the possibility to divert the vehicle to another track, but on which one person is tied up. Diverting the tram/train will cause one person to die. Not doing so will get five killed. What would you do?"

This dilemma also has multiple variants, and can greatly complicate the choice. For example, the choice may be that you can stop the streetcar, but this will cause it to derail with a 50% chance that all its occupants will die (and 50% that all will be saved). Or you can look more for the emotional involvement of the subject: propose that in one of the ways there are five or more people who will die if nothing is done and in the other one, but that this one is the subject's partner, child, parent, sibling or relative. Or a child.

3. Prisoner's dilemma

The prisoner's dilemma is one of the dilemmas used by John Nash to explain incentives and the importance of not only one's own decisions but also those of others to obtain certain results, cooperation being necessary to achieve the best possible result. Although it is more economic than ethical, it also has implications in this sense..

The prisoner's dilemma proposes the following situation:

"Two suspected criminals are arrested and locked up, unable to communicate with each other, on suspicion of their involvement in a bank robbery (or murder, depending on the version). The penalty for the crime is ten years in prison, but there is no tangible evidence of the involvement of any of them in the crime. The police offer each of them the possibility of going free if they confess to the other. If both confess to the crime, they will each serve six years in prison. If one denies it and the other provides evidence of the latter's involvement, the informer will go free and the other will be sentenced to ten years in prison. If both deny the facts, both will remain in prison for one year."

In this case, rather than moral we would be talking about the consequences of each act for oneself and for the other and how the outcome depends not only on our actions but also on the actions of others.

4. The noble thief

This dilemma poses the following:

"We witness a man robbing a bank. However, we note that the thief does not keep the money, but gives it to an orphanage that lacks the resources to support the orphans living there. We can report the theft, but if we do so it is likely that the money the orphanage can now use to feed and care for the children will have to return what was stolen."

On the one hand, the guy has committed a crime, but on the other hand he has done it for a good cause. What to do? The dilemma can be complicated if you add, for example, that during the bank robbery a person has died.

5. The test

Sometimes the right decision comes in a very ambiguous situation in which we do not know whether we have committed an offense or not. This ethical dilemma is based on this type of situation. It presents us with this scenario:

"You are in a university classroom taking an exam: all the students are seated in lined-up chairs, answering questions that must be answered in writing. At a certain point, you have been trying for several minutes to solve a question that is resisting you, and seeing that you are not running out of time, you decide to rest for a couple of minutes, to see if by disconnecting you can better evoke the memories. However, after a while with your mind blank and not thinking about anything in particular and with your eyes lost, you realize that you have just seen the correct answer on the answer sheet of the person in front of you. Considering that you most likely weren't going to be able to remember the correct answer, do you answer the question, or do you leave it blank?"

It's a simple test question, but .... Do you have to take responsibility for having "copied", even if not entirely voluntarily? Or on the other hand are you not to blame for the fact that your gaze was directed to the other person's exam paper?

Sometimes we also have to face them in real life.

Some of the ethical dilemmas proposed above are statements that may seem false or a hypothetical elaboration that we will never have to face in real life. But the truth is that in our day-to-day lives we may have to face difficult have to face difficult decisions, with negative consequences or implicationswith negative consequences or implications no matter what decision we make.

For example, we may find that an acquaintance performs an unethical act. We may also observe a case of bullying, or a fight, in which we can intervene in different ways. We often encounter homeless people, and we may be faced with the dilemma of whether to help them or not. Also at the professional levelA judge, for example, has to decide whether or not to send someone to prison, a doctor may be faced with the decision of whether or not to artificially extend someone's life or who should or should not undergo surgery.

We can observe professional malpractice. And we may also face them even in personal life: we may for example witness infidelities and betrayals towards or carried out by loved ones, having the conflict of whether to tell them or not.

In conclusion, ethical dilemmas are an element of great interest which tests our convictions and beliefs and force us to reflect on what motivates us and how we organize and participate in our world. And they are not something abstract and alien to us, but can be part of our day-to-day lives.

Bibliographical references:

• Anscombe, G.E.M. (1958). Modern Moral Philosophy. Philosophy. 33 (124): pp. 1 - 19.
• Benítez, L. (2009). Actividades y recursos para educar en valores. Editorial PCC.
• Fagothey, A. (2000). Right and Reason. Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books & Publishers.
• MacIntyre, A. (1998). A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the 20th Century. Routledge.
• Paul, R.; Elder, L. (2006). The Miniature Guide to Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning. United States: Foundation for Critical Thinking Free Press.