An ethical dilemma would be best described as having problems in making decisions between moral imperatives whereby none of them are preferable or acceptable unambiguously. The difficulty arises when choosing to follow one’s choice would lead to the transgression of the other. According to Nucci, Krettenauer & Narváez (2014), t hese dilemmas can, however, be refuted in ways like claiming the inexistence of a situation. The solution involves making a choice on the good that is greater and the evil that is less or the problem cancels out alternatives that are creative including peacemaking or situated or situational ethics should be put into use because the situation cannot be detached from the context and still make sense.
A friend of mine came to visit and spent a couple of days at my apartment. As we were unpacking and getting her settled, I noticed a bottle of inhalers in her luggage and I opted to place them in the medicine cabinet. At this time, one bottle fell, and I accidentally stepped on it, breaking it into pieces. My friend did not know about it instantly, but I was pretty much convinced not to tell her because she is paranoid about her drugs and her condition. I certainly did not want her to think of me as careless; I was also broke at that time so buying a new inhaler would cause a considerable dent in my wallet. I was convinced that she would not get an attack because lately she had been beautiful and my place did not have anything allergic that could trigger the attack.
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Unfortunately for me, a neighbor adopted a cat the previous day. My friend had not noticed that her inhaler was missing so when her attack was triggered she started frantically searching for it in her luggage as I helped. She ended up convinced that she did not carry it, but then, her condition was getting worse; so I had to bring her to the hospital where she was admitted for a couple of weeks.
The most ethical theory that applies in my case would be utilitarianism. This is the great theory based on a person’s ability to foresee the penalties for an action. Among the two types of utilitarianism which are rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism in which act utilitarianism involves moving in a way that is of benefit to the majority irrespective of laws or societal constraints or personal feelings. Utilitarianism, on the other hand, is whereby a person purposes to be of interest to the majority via the just and fairest means ( Gibbs, 2013) . People can use utilitarianism in comparing the consequences of their actions on a similar scale against each other. This theory has its disadvantages which are that even though one is capable of using their personal experiences to predict outcomes, no one can be entirely sure about their predictions. The uncertainty may result in unexpected consequences making the individual using this theory come out as unethical with time because the decision did not occur in what they intended for it too.
The speaker Rashmi Adrian, once a Columbia law school and a prominent lawyer is known for fighting to build a culture to shift the standards of paradigm ethics through conversations. Rashmi also shares personal and professional ethical choice wisdom and educates on reasons we need to be open, make deliberate, good choices ethically and ask questions. In her experiences, she explains that good people are capable of producing a wrong decision ( Gibbs, 2013) . Rashmi says that many people make bad choices unknowingly; in the beginning, then end up walking a path that is set. Such people are unable to return to the right track, or they choose not to due to fear of losing their reputation, money, friendship, clients and so on. She then says that ethics should be installed in our minds every day so we can avoid walking down the troubled road ( Nucci, Krettenauer & Narváez, 2014) . Rashmi also shares her plate of bad decisions from her personal experience as an attorney. She also includes in her talks that ethics should penetrate all aspects of a person’s life which should all begin with communication and conversations.
According to my ethical dilemma and in what I have learned now I should have risked telling my friend about her inhaler, which is doing the greater good at the expense of my pride and our friendship. This would have saved us from going to the hospital, and I would have gained some great deal of peace of mind. We can hereby conclude that we are society learners who greatly benefit from interactions with one another and our beliefs should not be exclusive to ourselves.
References
Gibbs, J. C. (2013). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg, Hoffman, and Haidt . Oxford University Press.
Nucci, L., Krettenauer, T., & Narváez, D. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of moral and character education . Routledge.
