DILEMMAS and MORAL DILEMMAS

A. DILEMMA
 A dilemma is a situation where a person is forced to choose between
two or more conflicting options neither of which is acceptable.
 For example a town mayor faces a dilemma about how to protect and
preserve a virgin forest and at the same time allow miners and loggers
for economic development in the town.
B. MORAL DILEMMA
 When dilemmas involve human actions which have moral implications
they are called ethical or moral dilemmas.
 Moral dilemmas therefore our situations where persons who are called
moral agents and ethics are forced to choose between two or more
conflicting options but neither of which resolves the situation in a
morally acceptable manner.
 Let's consider this scenario as an example Lindsay is a deeply religious
person hence she considers killing humans absolutely Wrong
unfortunately it is found out that Lindsay is having an ectopic
pregnancy as is well-known an ectopic pregnancy is a type of
pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus most commonly in the
fallopian tubes in other words in a topic pregnancy the fetus does not
develop in the uterus now
 If this happens the development of the fetus will definitely endanger
the mother thus if Lindsay continues with her pregnancy then there is
a big possibility that she will die
 According to experts the best way to save Lindsay's life is to abort the
fetus which necessarily implies killing the fetus
 If we do not abort the fetus than Lindsey as well as the fetus will die
 In this example of a moral Dilemma Lindsey is faced with two
conflicting options namely either she resorts to abortion which will
save her life but at the same time jeopardizes her moral integrity or
does not resort to abortion but in dangers her life as well as the fetus
indeed Lindsey is faced through the huge moral dilemma
C. Three conditions that must be present for situations to be considered moral
dilemmas:
 first the person or the agent of a moral action is obliged to make a
decision about which course of action is best, here the moral agent
must choose the best option and act accordingly in this case she may
opt to abort the fetus is the best course of action
 second there must be different courses of action to choose from, it has
already been pointed out that there must be two or more conflicting
options to choose from for moral dilemmas to occur
 third no matter what course of action is taken some moral principles
are always compromised
D. TYPES of DILEMMAS
Types of Dilemma
-There are several types of moral dilemmas but the most common of them
are categorized into the following:
 first epistemic and ontological dilemmas
 second self imposed and world imposed dilemmas
 third obligation dilemmas in prohibition dilemmas and
 fourth single agent and multi person dilemmas
First category:
1. Epistemic moral dilemmas involve situations where in two or more moral
requirements conflict with each other and that the moral agent hardly knows
which of the conflicting moral requirements takes priority over the other
-in other words the moral agent here does not know which option is
morally right or wrong
-for instance I ought to honour my promise to my son to be home early
but in my way home I saw a sick old man who needs to be brought to
the hospital where does my actual duty lies

2. Ontological moral dilemmas on the other hand involve situations where in

two or more moral requirements conflict with each other yet neither of these
conflicting moral requirements overrides/dominate each other
-this is not to say that the moral agent doesn't know which moral
requirement is stronger than the other the point is that neither of the
moral requirements is stronger than the other hence the moral agent
can hardly choose between the conflicting moral requirements
-for instance a military doctor is attending to the needs of the wounded
soldiers in the middle of the war unfortunately two soldiers urgently
need a blood transfusion however only one bag of blood is available at
the moment to whom shall the doctor administer the blood transfusion
for sure we could not tell whether administering a blood transfusion to
soldier A is more moral than administering a blood transfusion to
soldier B and vice versa
Second category of moral dilemmas:
1. a self-imposed moral dilemma is caused by the moral agents wrongdoings
-for example David is running for the position of town mayor during the
campaign period he promised the indigenous peoples in his community to
protect their virgin forests just to gain their votes but at the same time he
seeks financial support from a mining corporation fortunately David won
the elections yet he is faced with the dilemma of fulfilling his promise to
the indigenous peoples and at the same time allows the mining
corporation to destroy their forests indeed through his own actions David
created a situation in which it is impossible for him to be discharged from
both obligations
2. a world imposed moral dilemma on the other hand means that certain
events in the world plays the agent in a situation of moral conflict
 -William Styron's famous Sophie's Choice is a classic example

Third category of moral dilemmas:

1. obligation dilemmas are situations in which more than one feasible action
is obligatory
2. prohibition dilemmas involved cases in which all feasible actions are
forbidden

Fourth category:
1. in single agent dilemma the agent ought all things considered to do A
ought all things considered to do B but she cannot do both A and B
-in other words the moral agent is compelled to act in two or more
equally the same moral options but she cannot choose both
-for instance a medical doctor found out that her patient has HIV for
sure the medical doctor may experience tension between the legal
requirement to report the case and the desire to respect confidentiality
2. the multi person 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
- Example: a family may be torn between choosing to terminate or prolong
the life of a family member
-an organization may have to choose between complying with a wage law by
cutting its workforce or by retaining its current workforce by paying them
below the required minimum wage
-the multi-person dilemma requires more than choosing what is right it also
entails that the persons involved reached a general consensus in such a
manner the moral obligation to do what is right becomes more complicated in
the multi-person dilemma on the one hand the integrity of the decision ought
to be defended on moral grounds on the other hand the decision must also
prevent the answer