Moral Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Moral Dilemma - Essay Example (Moral Dilemmas: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Therefore, it makes good sense to state that for a given agent, under a set of given circumstances, there are reasons to do either A or B, and this even when it is a fact that one set of reasons may be stronger than the other. (Foot, 2003) Does this mean, for a fact, that all moral dilemmas end up with a residue of guilt (Moral Dilemmas and Moral Ambiguity) This is a situation which in essence constitutes a real life moral dilemma: a woman, who is six months pregnant, discovers that she has bowel cancer. She must undergo treatment for the same, which is chemotherapy, but at the same time, she has been informed that the treatment would most probably end up deforming her unborn baby. Should the woman decide to go ahead with the chemotherapy, thus taking a chance with her unborn baby, or must she opt to wait for the baby to be born in order to start treatment, which may in fact endanger her own life What are the ethical issues involved in such a case, and what is the moral dilemma that the woman is facing at the present time The main issue or moral dilemma would be whether the woman must opt to have the chemotherapy or not. What then would be the alternatives for the unfortunate woman What are the different ethical issues that would be involved in the alternative courses of action for the woman Is it possible for the woman to be able to reason out, eventually, which horn of the moral dilemma would in fact be the best choice possible (Moral Dilemmas and Moral Ambiguity) What are the ethical issues involved in this case What, as a matter of fact, is referred to as 'ethics', and what is 'morality' How can an individual behave in a moral and in an ethical manner Today, especially, these issues and other similar ones seem to be overtaking the people, and most especially, younger people, who are faced with rapid changes and developments in all aspects of life. For example, one issue that has been in the forefront for some time is that of 'bioethics'. This is an extremely difficult field, because it is almost all the time concerned with some of the subjects that trouble man the most, life, death, the nature of both, what sort of life is actually worth living, what exactly constitutes murder, how exactly one must treat individuals who are in constant and relentless pain, what sort of responsibilities does one human being have towards another, and so on and so forth. (Issues in Bioethics, ethical dilemmas in biology and medicine) The other topic that seems to be the cause of several rancorous debates between groups of people is that of abortion of the fetus, pregnancy choices of a woman and other related issues. Medical treatments is also one issue that troubles many people, and the related topics here would be what is death, and what exactly constitutes the state of death Is there a bright line of sorts that would identify and state that this is what death is (Issues in Bioethics, ethical dilemmas in biology and medicine) As a matter of fact, doctors are faced all the time with moral dilemmas, and as far as Western medicine is concerned, the doctor-patient relationship gives rise to the 'principle of not doing any harm' or what is known as 'non-malfeasance'.