MORAL DILEMMA

Moral dilemmas are situations in which the decision-maker must consider two or more moral values or
duties but can only honor one of them; thus, the individual will violate at least one important moral
concern, regardless of the decision. This chapter draws a distinction between real and false dilemmas.
The former are situations in which the tension is between moral values or duties that are, more or less,
on equal footing. In a real dilemma, the choice is between a wrong and another, roughly equal wrong.
The latter are situations in which the decision-maker has a moral duty to act in one way but is tempted
or pressured to act in another way. In a false dilemma, the choice is actually between a right and a
wrong.

LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA

PERSONAL DILEMMA

Simply put, these personal dilemmas are those experienced and resolved on a personal level. Since
many ethical decisions are personally made, many, if not most of, moral dilemmas fall under, or boil
down to, this level. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre gave an example or a case that could exemplify
a personal moral dilemma. “Sartre tells of a student whose brother had been killed in the German
offensive of 1940. The student wanted to avenge his brother and to fight forces that were here regarded
as evil. But the student’s mother was living with him, and he was her one consolation in life.’ “The
student believed that he had conflicting obligations. Sartre describes him as being torn between two
kinds of morality: one of limited scope but certain efficacy, personal devotion to his mother; the other of
much wider scope but uncertain efficacy, attempting to contribute to the defeat of an unjust
aggressor.”(Holt, n.d.)We can give many other examples of personal moral dilemmas. If someone makes
conflicting promises, he faces a moral conflict. When an individual has to choose between the life of a
child who is about to be delivered and the child’s mother, he faces an ethical dilemma

ORGANIZATIONAL DILEMMAS

Basically, ethical cases encountered and resolved by social organizations are organizational moral
dilemmas. This category includes moral dilemmas in business, the medical field, and the public sector.
For example, a hospital that believes that human life should not be deliberately shortened and that
unpreventable pain should not be tolerated encounters a conflict in resolving whether to withdraw life
support from a dying patient. This is a common moral dilemma faced by healthcare organizations and
medical institutions.

STRUCTURAL DILEMMAS

These structural moral dilemmas pertain to cases involving a network of institutions and operative
theoretical paradigms. As they usually encompass multi-sectoral institutions and organizations, they
may be larger in scope and extent than organizational dilemmas. An example is the prices of medicine in
the Philippines which are higher compared to other countries in Asia and in countries of similar
economic status. Factors affecting medicine prices include the cost of research, the presence of
competition in the market, government regulations, and patent protection.
REFERENCES:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-15191-1_2

https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/batangas-state-university/bs-psychology/explanation-about-
moral-dilemma-assignment-in-ethics-ged-107/17373991