Moral dilemma and moral experience

• The concept of the good is central to Aristotle's ethics, as it provides guidance on how to live a virtuous life.
• Philosophy is the rational science of all things through their ultimate causes
• Philosophy uses reason as its main instrument in finding answers to fundamental questions
• Ethics deals with principles of ethical behavior in modern society at the level of the person, society, and in interaction with the environment and other shared resources
• Ethics is primarily a set of principles, a system, a scientific investigation of what is right and wrong
• Ethics looks into behavior, referring to how a person lives their life and acts in situations
• Elements of Moral Experience:
• Moral Agent: the doer of a moral behavior
• Moral Act: the activity of the moral agent, showing behavior or expressing character
• Reason or Framework: answers why and how a moral act is right or wrong
• Components of the Human Act:
• Knowledge: a human act is performed consciously, with awareness of the action
• Freedom: a human act is performed freely, with free choice and own power
• Voluntariness: a human act is performed willingly, coming from one's own willfulness
• Human act vs Act of man:
• Human act: performed knowingly, freely, and willingly
• Act of man: not deliberate, involuntary or instinctive actions
• Moral Standard vs Non-moral Standard:
• Non-moral Standard: rules that belong to a particular group, do not entail a universal norm
• Examples: table etiquette, grammar rules, policies, laws, rubrics
• Moral Standard: set of principles aimed for universalization of a harmonious and good life
• Examples: Do unto others what you want others do unto you, killing innocent people is wrong
• Moral standards involve general or universal rules, values that are acceptable and desirable
• Moral standards deal with things that affect people, animals, and the environment
• Moral standards persist over time, overrule self-interest, and are reasonable and impartial
• Moral dilemma comes from the Greek words "di" meaning two and "lemma" referring to a proposition or premise, meaning two propositions or premises
• A moral dilemma is a situation where one person is morally pulled in opposite directions
• Three conditions of a moral dilemma:

  • Moral dilemma occurs when you must make a decision for the best course of action
  • There must be different courses of action to choose from
  • No matter what course of action is taken, some ethical principle is compromised
• Three levels of a moral dilemma:

  • Personal Moral Dilemma: involves individual person only or personal life
  • Organizational moral dilemma: involves a group of people or an organization
  • Systemic moral dilemma: involves the essential structure where all members are affected
• Examples of personal moral dilemmas:

  • Deciding which parent to live with
  • Missing an exam due to a family emergency
  • Being trusted with a friend's confession of a crime
• Examples of organizational moral dilemmas:

  • Deciding whether to assign a task to a groupmate who may ruin the quality of work
  • Choosing between laying off employees or decreasing their salaries to save the company
• Example of a systemic moral dilemma:

  • President deciding whether to ban international flights during a pandemic to prevent the spread of the virus