How to Respond to an Ethical Dilemma
Responding to an ethical dilemma can be a difficult task depending on the nature of the dilemma itself. Ethical dilemmas can arise in the home, school and workplace. Ethics is the philosophical study of morality, but it can be more narrowly defined to refer to a specific set of rules or a code of conduct. These codes of conduct can vary because different professions can adhere to different sets of rules which can then raise unique ethical issue of their own. By definition, an ethical dilemma poses the question of how you should act in the face of ambiguous circumstances according to the agreed standards.
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Instructions
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Assess the situation. Responding to an ethical dilemma requires that you are able to, in a sense, step back from the situation and properly look at the situation as a whole. This is the equivalent of getting a "bird's eye view" of the situation. You need to understand who is affected by the dilemma aside from yourself, what potential decisions could be made and what the outcomes of those decisions might be for all those involved. By gaining a wider perspective of the problem as a whole, you will be more informed and able to make a decision that is perhaps justifiable based on your assessment of the circumstances. If possible, you want to act in a manner that you could not have acted otherwise given the situation at hand. Assessing the situation will help you to do this.
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Make a list of pros and cons to your potential decisions. Sometimes just seeing which decision outweighs another based on the sheer number of positive implications can be enough to cause you to act in an ethical manner. It must be remembered, however, that creating a simple hierarchy of ethical precepts does not necessarily guarantee the ability to make the right decision. Sometimes actions that would have seemed positive in one situation given the number of positive implications might actually prove to result in a completely undesirable outcome in a different or even similar set of circumstances. Be sure that if you act on the list of pros and cons that you consider the impact of each positive and negative outcome on others who will be affected by the final decision of the main dilemma.
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Practice the "categorical imperative." German philosopher Immanuel Kant advocated this idea of the categorical imperative as a way to make decisions when faced with moral dilemmas. The same should be true in more narrowly construed ethical dilemmas as well. In essence, you must remember that anyone else involved in your decision has rights of their own. The question that you must ask before making your decision is whether or not it violates the rights of others. Kant worded it this way: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." Only when the rights of others are not violated can you consider them to be ethically "right."
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