Dilemma Defined

- A situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more

alternatives. Thus, you find yourself facing problem but the solutions available will
only create another problem or worse more problems.

A moral dilemma is a situation where;

1. There are two or more actions that you can possibly do.
2. There is a moral reason(s) for doing such actions.
3. You cannot do all the possible actions presented to you. You only need to choose one.

Three levels of Moral Dilemma

Personal Moral Dilemma – is when your decision in a situation where there is moral conflict is
the cause of either your own: that of another person; or a group of people’s potential harm.

An Organizational Moral Dilemma – is when a member or members of the organization is in a

situation where there is a moral conflict, and the decision will potentially harm either some
members of the group or the entire organization itself.

Structural Moral Dilemma – is when a person or group of persons who holds high level positions
in the society faces a morally conflicting situation wherein the entire social system is affected.

Why Only Human Beings can be Ethical?

There has been some claim that morality is not unique to human beings. According to St.
Thomas Aquinas, the fundamental difference between animal ethics and human ethics is that
animals behave instinctively while human behavior is rational (BBC 2014).
Instinctive behavior is a hard-wired, inborn, characteristic response to specific
environmental stimuli; an example is the animalistic behavior of social animal (Spink, 2010).
Rational behavior is a decision-making process where the person acts in ways that best
achieve his or her needs in accordance with his or her set preferences, priorities, and principles.
Rational behavior is tied to oral standards. Additionally, the human person in his or her decision-
making process is free to decide what to do and free to act on his or her decisions. Thus, only
human beings can be ethical because only humans have the capacity for free moral judgment.
What does “culture” mean?

There are several definitions of culture. The father of sociology, Emile Durkheim
asserted that culture has the power over individuals to create beliefs, such as belief in God. He
added that with more people holding same beliefs, social order is also strengthened.
In general, culture is a way of life of a group of people that ‘includes their knowledge,
belief, art, morals, law customs, and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a
member of society. (Tylor, 1974)

Elements of Culture

The five basic elements of culture are: symbols, language, beliefs, values and norms.

Symbols
Symbols can be anything that a group of people find meaningful. For example, in
religious groups, the cross is a symbol for Christianity while the crescent is for Islam.

Language
Language is a complex symbol that enabled human beings to communicate either
verbally or through writing. Ilocano, bisaya, tagalog, and other several native languages were
already spoken in pre-colonial Philippines. Their ancient script or writing called baybayin had
characters, and each character represented a complete syllable.

Beliefs
Beliefs are assumptions or convictions held to be true by an individual or a group of
people. These assumptions or convictions could be about events, people or things. For example,
ancient civilizations attributed events to spirits and gods. This is what we now call “superstitious
beliefs”. However, when people started to think critically and scientific research flourished
events are now explained differently. This also shows that beliefs change through time.

Values
Values are culturally acceptable standards of behavior. It is what a person considers
important or beneficial in life. For example, in pre-colonial Philippines there were evidences that
women were equally valued and held central roles in society just as did the men (Perez, 2013).
This was in stark contrast to the Spanish colonizers however, who valued women mainly as
domestic caretakers.

Norm
Norm is an informal guideline by a particular group of people or social unit about what is
considered normal or correct/incorrect social behavior. For instance, the Filipino norm in relating
to other people is to get along with others, even with complete strangers. The Filipino trait is
pakikisama.

Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism explains why one behavior or practice is completely acceptable by a

particular group of people, while it is taboo in another. It refers to the idea that values,
knowledge, and behavior of people must be understood within its own cultural context, and not
by the standards of other cultures. Hence, all moral and ethical standards (or the judgment of
what is right or wrong) is valid and there is not “one standard that is better among all others.

Philosopher and university professor Dr. James Rachels (1941-2003), in his book The
Elements of Moral Philosophy, aid out five claims of cultural relativists as to why right or wrong
is only a matter of cultural standards. These claims are:

1. Different societies have different moral codes.

2. The moral code of the society determines what is right or wrong. There is no objective
standard considered better than others.
3. There are no universal moral truths.
4. The moral code of a particular society has no special status. It is but one among many.
5. It is arrogant for one culture to judge culture. There should be tolerance among cultures.

The Advantages and Dangers of Cultural Relativism

Rachels identified two positive lessons we can learn from cultural relativism.
1. It warns us from assuming that our preferences are the absolute rational standard.
2. It teaches us to keep an open mind and to be more amenable in discovering the truth.

Many of our practices are relevant only to our particular community. This implies our moral
views are a reflection of our society’s prejudices. Cultural relativism makes us understand
that what we think as truth may actually be just a result of cultural conditioning.

On the other hand, the dangers of Cultural Relativism are:

1. We cannot call out societal practices that promote harm.

If cultural relativism is true, then we should not condemn what Hitler and the
Nazi did against the Jews. Apartheid in South Africa, or any form of
maltreatment, damage, injury or destruction that one community inflicts upon
anyone or anything.
 2. We cannot justifiably criticize our own culture’s harmful practices.
This implies that to decide whether your actions is right or wrong, all you need to
do is check whether your action is in accordance with the standards of your
society.

Why are there Universal Values?

The dangers that cultural relativism present led thinkers such as Dr. Rachels to reject
cultural relativism because it is implausible. The empirical basis of cultural relativism is that are
automatically different in its views of what is right or wrong. However, when it comes to
important moral issues, there are three values that are universal.

The three universal values shared by all cultures are:

1. Caring for the young
2. Murder is wrong
3. Telling the truth