Ethical Theories & Moral Dilemmas

Different ethical theories involve differing procedures, implications, and justifications for solving moral dilemmas. A moral dilemma occurs when an individual has to face a choice between two different ethical solutions, solutions that are contradictory. Our society depends on a sense of morality as part of the normative structure of the citizenry, and the normative structure is what we accept as a minimum of shared understanding of what is moral, serving thus as a guide to our behavior and to our judgment about the behavior of others. A moral dilemma tests our definitions and our resolve to find ways of balancing competing interests. Three theories offering their own definitions to the terms procedure, implications, and justification are Egoism, Utilitarianism, and Respect for Persons.

The individual faced with a moral dilemma must first have a strong moral sense and a moral code as a guide to making decisions. The problem here is that he or she is faced with opposing choices, either of which under other circumstances might be the right one, but one of which now has to be selected over the other. A strong moral code should enable the individual to make the decision as to the relative merits of the two choices, whether one is more right than the other, who will be hurt and who helped by each choice, and what higher morality will be served by each choice. Our social institutions promote underlying moral structures that are to guide us in our democratic life. These i

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osing principles of pleasure and pain: "It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do" (Rogerson 31). Bentham offers the principle of utility as the foundation for his philosophy of utilitarianism and for the ethical considerations that flow from it. Bentham is in fact interested not merely in showing that human action derives from a desire for pleasure and a fear of pain. He is also interested in developing a set of objective criteria of morality and for making moral decisions regarding human actions. Pain and pleasure are the determinants of right and wrong as well as being in a chain of cause and effects. This is the principle of utility, as Bentham states it: By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question; or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness" (Rogerson 31). Of course, it is necessary to examine more closely what is meant by Bentham when he refers to happiness. For Bentham, when he says that the individual seeks his or her happiness, h

Category: Philosophy - E