I was pondering ethical/moral dilemmas recently. There are a lot of them, and I suspect most of us face some kind of moral or ethical issue almost every day. For example, simply posting on social medial might be a moral or ethical decision - do I really need to state my opinion here? That one causes me a lot of angst sometimes (so I mostly just don't post on social media). But there are lots of these types of questions.
1. Should a person speak up when they feel strongly about something, even if speaking up brings on the possibility of harm (to a job, personal harm, reputation, etc.), or stay quiet?
2. If a news media person saw a house on fire, should they go save the people or do his/her job and stand back and take photographs?
3. Should one respect a loved one's privacy on social media, or check on it to see if they are doing anything risky or harmful (especially with younger people)?
4. If one wants to end a relationship, should you end a relationship by ignoring the other person completely (ghosting) or by communicating your reasons and feelings honestly?
5. Should a person claim the credit for a project that was done by someone else or acknowledge their contribution and share the recognition?
6. Should someone sell a product that is of poor quality or defective to a client who trusts him/her, or inform the client of the problem and lose the sale?
7. Should someone use confidential or privileged information for financial gain or respect the rules of fair competition and disclosure?
8. Should a person exaggerate skills, experience, or qualifications to get a job, or be honest and risk losing the opportunity even though the person is qualified for the position?
9. Should someone report a colleague who is breaking the rules, cheating, stealing, harassing, or abusing someone or keep silent and avoid conflict or retaliation?
10. Should a person expose illegal, unethical, or harmful practices that he/she witnesses in his/her organization or stay loyal and protect his/her reputation and career?
11. Should people donate their organs after death to save the lives of others or respect their religious beliefs or personal preferences that prohibit organ donation?
12. Should society support the right of a terminally ill person to end their life with dignity and avoid suffering or respect the sanctity of life and oppose assisted suicide?
13. Should a person trap mice with spring traps that kill them, or use humane traps and release the mouse?
Bing AI helped with some of these moral issues and created the images.
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 814th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.
Some of those are easier than others. Of course, in the real world, sometimes those considerations can be different than they are in the abstract. Like, for #4, of course you should communicate with someone before breaking off any sort of relationship. But what if the person is abusive? What if a situation occurs where confronting them is going to be dangerous? Or what if confronting them is going to make things worse?
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