BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING

GEC 8: ETHICS
COURSE MODULE COURSE UNIT WEEK
GEC 8 2 4

Moral Dilemmas

CHECKLIST
 Read course and unit objectives
 Read study guide prior to class attendance
 Read required learning resources; refer to unit
terminologies for jargons
 Proactively participate in classroom discussions
 Participate in weekly discussion board (Canvas)
 Answer and submit course unit tasks

UNIT EXPECTED OUTCOMES (UEOs)

Cognitive:
1. Identify the underpinnings of Moral Dilemmas
2. Categorize the levels of moral dilemmas
3. Understand the differences and similarities of moral dilemmas in terms of; individual,
organizational and structural.

Affective:
1. Actively listens during class discussions
2. Shows sensitivity and respect to other people’s opinion and point of view.
3. Make sound ethical judgment based on principles and facts.
Psychomotor:
1. Actively participate during class discussion and develop sensitivity to common good.
2. Express principles and viewpoint in a respectful manner by internalizing the moral
dilemmas.

REQUIRED READINGS
Buenaflor, L.E., Masarap, A.T., Boleche Jr., C.O., Bustamante, J.M. (2018). Unraveling the
Absolute Moral Principle: Ethics for Filipino Students. Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp. Publishing
Corp.
Leaño Jr., R.D. (2018). Ethics for College Students: CHED Curriculum Compliant. Manila City:
Mindshapers Co., Inc.
Rachels, J. (2004). The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill College.

STUDY GUIDE
A moral dilemma is a situation where an agent’s obligations conflict. Debate in this area focuses on
the question of whether genuine moral dilemmas exist. This question involves considering not only
the nature and significance of dilemmas, but also the connections between dilemmas, the logic of
obligation and moral emotions.

Certain cases involving difficult choices suggest that moral dilemmas exist. These cases also
suggest that dilemmas are significant because they show that moral theory cannot help with these
choices. If this is right, morality may be unimportant because it may be a system of inconsistent
rules that cannot be used as a guide that tells us what to do. But this understanding of the cases is
disputable. Perhaps the cases show that agents can be ignorant about what they ought to do. Or
perhaps dilemmas are not significant because moral theory tells agents to do the most important of
their obligations.

On the other hand, principles from the logic of obligation or deontic logic can be used to argue
against the existence of moral dilemmas. Principles of deontic logic such as the ‘ought’ implies
‘can’ principle and the agglomeration principle, which says that if you ought to do a and ought to
do b, then you ought to do a and b , taken together with the assumption that moral dilemmas exist,
turn out to entail a contradiction. This means that one of these principles must be given up, or else
it must be the case that moral dilemmas do not exist.

Careful consideration of the moral emotions has suggested that dilemmas do exist. It is appropriate
for agents to feel guilt only if they ought to have done otherwise. In cases involving difficult choices,
it is appropriate to feel guilt no matter what course of action is taken. This suggests that such
cases involve genuine dilemmas.
MORAL DILEMMAS

The label moral dilemma is commonly applied to any difficult moral problem. Several introductory
anthologies in ethics have been titled Moral Dilemmas, suggesting that all of the issues discussed
therein are moral dilemmas, regardless of their structure, simply because they raise hard moral
questions. Many people even talk about moral dilemmas when it is not clear whether or not
morality is relevant at all.

Moral philosophers, in contrast, usually have in mind something more specific. Minimally, they
count a situation as a moral dilemma only if one moral reason conflicts with another (moral or
nonmoral) reason. Reasons conflict in a situation if the agent is not able in that situation to comply
with all of the reasons. For example, if it is in Ann's interest to lie to a potential employer, then
Ann's prudential reason to lie conflicts with Ann's moral reason not to lie. Similarly, moral reasons
can conflict with religious reasons (as on one interpretation of the biblical story of Abraham being
commanded by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac) or with aesthetic reasons (as on one understanding
of Gauguin's decision to leave his family to pursue his art).

Moral philosophers normally restrict the class of moral dilemmas further to include only conflicts
between one moral reason and another reason that is also moral in nature. In Plato's example, if
Brad holds a weapon for a friend and promises to return it when that friend asks for it, then Brad
has a moral reason to return it when the friend asks. But if Brad knows that this friend is going to
use the weapon to commit a harmful crime, then Brad has a moral reason not to return the weapon
to the friend (at least at that time).

Many philosophers would not classify this conflict as a moral dilemma because it is resolvable—the
moral reasons against returning the weapon override the moral reasons in favor of returning the
weapon, so overall Brad morally ought not to return the weapon, assuming that the harmful crime
is serious enough. In contrast, even if moral dilemmas must be unresolvable, Carol is in a moral
dilemma on this account if Carol has a moral reason to help the needy but can help only one of two
equally needy people.

Some philosophers limit moral dilemmas even further to include only conflicts among certain kinds
of moral reasons. A moral reason is a moral requirement just in case it would be morally wrong not
to act on it without an adequate justification or excuse. Carol's moral reason to help a particular
needy person, for example, is not a moral requirement if it would not be morally wrong for Carol to
refuse to help this needy person (as long as Carol helps enough other needy people at other
times). Then, if moral dilemmas are limited to unresolvable conflicts between moral requirements,
Carol is not in a moral dilemma when she can help only one of two equally needy people. In
contrast, if David can keep only one of two conflicting promises, assuming that David has a moral
requirement to keep his promises, then David is in a moral dilemma, even if moral dilemmas are
defined as unresolvable conflicts of moral requirements.
Other moral theorists define moral dilemmas in different terms, for instance, as situations where
every alternative is morally wrong. The term wrong, however, is unclear in this context. If an act is
called morally wrong when, and only when, it violates a non-overridden moral requirement, then
this definition reduces to the previous one. In contrast, if an act is called morally wrong only when it
violates an overriding moral requirement, then this definition makes moral dilemmas obviously
impossible. That obviousness suggests that philosophers who claim that moral dilemmas are
possible do not use this strong definition of moral dilemmas. Instead, they seem to identify moral
dilemmas with unresolvable moral requirement conflicts.

To show that a situation fits that definition, it is not enough to cite nonmoral facts, such as that the
agent cannot do both acts or even that each act is necessary to fulfill a promise. The situation is
not a moral dilemma unless there are moral requirements for conflicting alternatives and neither
moral requirement overrides the other. In support of the claim that there is a real moral requirement
on each side, philosophers who see the situation as a moral dilemma cite the counterfactual that it
would be morally wrong not to choose a particular alternative if there were no moral reason to
choose the conflicting alternative. They also often argue that moral requirements on each side
provide the best explanation of why remorse (or guilt, but not just regret), an apology,
compensation, or some other moral residue is appropriate after either choice.

TERMINOLOGIES
Moral Dilemma - is conflicts of morals, where you are forced to choose between two or more
options and you have a moral reason to choose and not choose each option. No matter what
choice you make in these situations, you always end up compromising some moral value.

FURTHER READINGS
Gonzales, E.G. (2004), Technology Integration in Courses, Philippine eLearning Society, retrieved
December 1, 2019 at PeLS webpage, website:
[Link]

UNIT TASK
* By the way, are you a good person? [Link]
* 6 hardest “would you rather” dilemmas. [Link]
* Heinz Dilemma [Link]

Present at least 3 moral dilemmas you experience in a 5-slide presentation format.

Nair, S. (2015). Moral dilemmas. In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taylor and
Francis. Retrieved 5 Oct. 2020, from [Link]
dilemmas/v-1

Moral Dilemmas. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved August 11, 2020 from