Moral decision refers to the kind of decisions which requires one to be very keen to make informed choices basing their judgments on their character, manners, ethics and their beliefs on what is perceived to be proper behavior. Moral decisions can be derived from various references involved including logical reasoning of phenomena, individual values and the vast religious believes that differ from person to person. In context, there exist two types of morality that contribute to the making of moral decisions. Relative morality tries to put across the notion that different situations require some other optional actions that could conflict with the original values of the person while Absolute morality sticks on a firm belief that there is an absolute structural solution to every moral dilemma and that solution is applicable in all situations as they arise.
The field of philosophy recognizes various approaches to moral decision making including the utilitarian Approach, the fairness approach, the rights approach, the virtue approach, and the common-good approach.
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One of the contemporary situations that creates a moral dilemma is the phrase, “do not kill." This phrase is supported by almost all the sociological aspect of human life including the government laws, religion and also ethical considerations in the society. The law states that any kind of murder by any means is punishable by the law, depending on the policies and regulation provided by the government. Although it differs from one country to another the consequence of killing is always taken seriously by the law and could lead to long term imprisonment or even
Murder in some other situations. In spirituality, some religions forbid murder at all costs. For instance, according to Christianity, killing is highly considered sinful therefore no man is allowed to take another man's life; hence they would face the wrath of God. It is also morally and ethically unaccepted to murder at any cost.
On the other hand, these aspects can be overcome by the consideration that killing could be the best solution to some of the moral situations experienced in everyday life. An example is in the face of robbery with violence, and this case usually entails either the owner of the property is killed or one of the robbers or all. The owner, therefore, can be in a better position to fight for himself in the form of self-defense and can kill the other party before they take action without considering his/her spirituality or morality. Being a Christian, I would resolve this issue by surrendering and letting the will of God to take place since not killing among the commandments. My moral values together with the law also require me to respect human life, and therefore I would obey.
Another situation is a case where, a friend, a coworker gets access to your personal computer while he was looking for some lost documents that he had sent earlier and lost it. When trying to trace the documents, he finds out you have been engaging in gambling activities which is against the company rules. The coworker knows that he is supposed to report you to the disciplinary section, but again he wonders how yet it would be unethical for him to have gotten your password and accessed your computer without your knowledge. Not withholding the fact that information privacy is one of the company’s core values. It is also unlawful of you to break the company rules and engaged in illegal activities.
According to my view of the issue and the reference of my legal, ethical, moral and faith perspective, I would resolve the situation. That would involve insisting that the coworker admits to the friend and explains why he had to get access to his computer in his absence, he would probably understand that the need for the document was urgent enough for him to have done so. After that he would advise his colleague to quit the law breaking activities and adhere to the rules of the company, morality and faith encourage that we help each other out of trouble and not put them into trouble instead. This would be fair to both parties and advocate for harmony.
Another contemporary instance is where, Bob has two friends, Tonny and Ben. It happened that Tonny had met a girl Angie and decided that they have a relationship, which was promising. After some weeks Bob found out that the same girl was Ben’s wife yet Tonny did not know about it. Ben calls Bob to ask if he knows anything about his wife since he had suspected that he was cheating on him. Bob is in a moral dilemma on whether to tell him the truth about Tonny and his wife or to first tell Tonny that Angie was married to Ben. Whichever the way he would decide to go about, he was going to hurt one of them, yet again if he was going to betray them all if he stays quiet about it and hope that his knowledge was never going to be discovered.
As a morally oriented person, being in Bob's position, I would resolve the issue by trying to save Tonny by telling him the truth about the relationship between Angie and Ben before they take any step. Christianity dictates that telling the truth always sets one free, and so I would decide to speak the truth to Ben also but after discussing it with Tonny so that I am not held liable to anything that happens among them. It would be so unethical of me to conceal the situation from my friends who at some degree count on me as their friend.
In conclusion, a moral decision occurs typically in a situation that is a dilemma in itself and requires one to make decisions that are based on their legal obligations and moral consideration. Although these situations differ from one society to another due to the difference in culture and perceptions of morality, every person requires to make informed ethical decisions in any case they are faced with to ensure that order and harmony are attained.
References
Conitzer, V., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Borg, J. S., Deng, Y., & Kramer, M. (2017, February). Moral decision making frameworks for artificial intelligence. In Thirty-First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence .
Glenn, A. L., Raine, A., & Schug, R. A. (2009). The neural correlates of moral decision-making in psychopathy. Molecular psychiatry , 14 (1), 5.
Turiel, E. (2015). Moral development. Handbook of child psychology and developmental science , 1-39.
