Ethical Dilemma Case Study Instructions

Your goal is to find or create an ethical dilemma, research and propose a potential solution following a step-by-step process. You need to research your issue, the ethical schools of thought (theories) you believe are applicable, the pros and cons, and then conclude with your final proposal.

An ethical dilemma is a problem having an ethical component to it. A simple example is finding a wallet with money it and identification; should you return it? Why? How do you make your decision? For this case study, you need a more complex ethical dilemma.

Main Steps

1. Obtain relevant facts of the issue; address why it’s important. At this level, you should address at least what you know about the situation  as well as what you don’t know; even more significant is the amount of time available. Often this is the determining factor in what will ultimately be done.

2. Identify the main ethical issues; usually there are 1 or 2 main ethical issues, and several sub-issues stemming from the key issues; try to cover main problem(s) and then 1 sub-issue if possible.

3. Determine who or what is affected by these dilemmas; who are the stakeholders? Who wins, loses? Who is helped by this? Who is hurt? Why?

4. Identify viable solutions/options based on 2 ethical schools of thought we’re studying this semester. For example: utilitarianism, egoism, virtue ethics, social contract, deontology, – or any version of these. At this point, you may want to rank them from best to worst by considering which is the least problematic, yet still most effective. This can be quite difficult.

5. Identify at least 1-2 specific consequences both long-term/short term- for each alternative/school of thought. Explain in detail and use examples.

6. Make a choice (in your conclusion) and provide a philosophical argument supporting why your solution is the best by comparing and contrasting the benefits and liabilities of your solution to the one(s) you believe is/are the worst and/or second best. You may want to integrate a discussion on the original circumstances which created this dilemma in the first place – and how it might be avoided in the future