The 4 Dilemmas
There are so many possibilities where an ethical dilemma might be faced. They can happen at work, at home, at school. They can involve friends, family, or strangers. Ethical dilemmas aren’t limited or caged in any way. There are no boundaries, and often no similarities or repetition. The only thing that connects all ethical dilemmas that you’ll face in your life, is the fact that you’re going to be the one making the final decision. This is why understanding which dilemma you’re facing, and having the ability to know what the potential consequences are, could help in your decision making. As I’ve said, there are many different possibilities for a dilemma to occur, and they feel like the best of only bad choices available to you, however, most of them will fit into one of these four dilemma brackets.
INCOMPLETE INFORMATION – One of the most common ethical dilemmas that people facing incomplete information, not having the full picture. What this boils down to, is making a decision where the results aren’t known – at least to you. If someone gave you the choice between having what’s in their right hand, or what’s in their left, this would be an incomplete information dilemma. You might get something great, or something terrible, but either way, you don’t know what the outcome is going to be, and yet you’re the one making the decision. These are very heavily reliant on trust, and the idea that you’ll accept both the outcome and if needed, the potential consequences. But these types of dilemmas can on rare occasions be quite interesting. If you’re friend asks for your advice, for example, for you to choose between person A or person B for them to ask someone out, the end result doesn’t really affect you personally. What can be exciting, obviously taking circumstance and context into account, is seeing someone else act out your choice, particularly when either the outcome isn’t that bad, or like I’ve said, it doesn’t affect you.
JUSTIFIED RESULT – What many ethical dilemmas have in common, is what comes in the future. What I mean by this, is that the choice you make might affect something in the present, but there will be a larger event in the future that will be influenced by that very same decision. An example of this could be, would you put someone in danger, if it meant saving two others from that danger? What this dilemma asks of you is to choose between now and the future, and most importantly, whether what comes in the future is worth influencing in the present.
TWO BAD CHOICES– Common phrases like ‘it’s the lesser of two evils’, or ‘the best of a bad bunch’, are examples of this ethical dilemma. This essentially is the beating heart of an ethical dilemma. You have two or more choices, and none of them are 100% positive. They all come with their own negatives, and their own consequences. In recent times, with the boom of technology, self-driving cars have become more widespread across the globe. One of the most frequent ethical dilemmas that these vehicles face, is what would happen if a lorry was coming towards you, and there’s multiple pedestrians on the pavement. Does the car recognise this, and make the decision for you? Does it require human intervention, and if so, what then do you do? Do you keep going into the lorry, and you may be severely injured, but you’ve saved other people? Do you drive into the pavement, save yourself, but injure others and live with the guilt? What this example highlights, is that there’s no real right answer with these dilemmas. Pretty much every conclusion has a negative, and it’s about judging and comparing those negatives against one another in order to come to a conclusion that you feel is correct, even if it’s wrong and morally and ethically unacceptable.
OPEN-ENDED – As the name suggests, an open-ended ethical dilemma is a dilemma that doesn’t have a solid, visible conclusion. Its result is left open for more influence to be added. It could be that you understand that there will be a consequence, but are unsure what. This essentially leaves you in the dark, and the choice you make is purely down to your understanding of the situation. These dilemmas are broad and vague, but being rational, calculated and calm could help to make your decision. We face these dilemmas every day with the phrase ‘I don’t know’. People might not know the answer to your question. You might not know how to approach something tender or serious. You will know it’s an open-ended dilemma, when you realise what the consequence of your choice was in the moment of experience. To use the driving analogy again, when you a are first learning to drive you rely heavily on your instructor because you simply don’t know what to do in the hundreds of changing circumstances when decision is necessary and could result in life-changing accidents. As you become more comfortable the instructor is trained to leave the decision making up to you in that moment, but still judges the time to help you out or take action if necessary.
As we grow older and gain more experience of life we are more able to discern which is the most sensible course of action, or decision to make. To reiterate, ethical dilemmas can occur whenever and over anything. They’re not restricted. But understanding what ethical dilemma you’re facing, could help you to solve it.