Definition
A dilemma is defined as “a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two (or more) equally undesirable things or course of action.” A dilemma is “a state of indecision between two or more unpleasant alternatives” (Oxford Dictionaries).
Introduction
A moral dilemma concerns situations in which one is morally obliged to act and, at the same time, to refrain from acting due to another obligation. It may be that we are required to act to achieve a certain end but that the side effects render the action unacceptable (Wempe and Donaldson 2004). In a moral dilemma, we have to cope with conflicting moral obligations or conflicting underlying moral values.
Dilemmas play an important role in ethics. They particularly occur when we want to translate ethical theory into practice. Theory often starts with ideal situations in which a problem is...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Badaracco JL (1997) Defining moments. Harvard Business School Press, Boston
Bouwmeester O (2017) The social construction of rationality. Policy debates and the power of good reasons. Routledge, London
Contu A (2014) Rationality and relationality in the process of whistleblowing. Recasting whistleblowing through readings of Antigone. J Manag Inq 23(4):393–406. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492613517512
Dictionary.com (2018) Dilemma. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dilemma
Freeman, E. (1984) Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Cambridge University Press
Kaptein M (2008) The living code. Embedding ethics into the corporate DNA. Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield
Kaptein M, Wempe J (2002) The balanced company. A theory of corporate integrity. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Kohlberg L (1981) Essays on moral development, Vol. I: The philosophy of moral development. Harper & Row, San Francisco
McConnel T (1996) Moral residue and dilemmas. In: Mason HE (ed) Moral dilemmas and moral theory. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 36–47
McConnel T (2018) Moral dilemmas. In: The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. (Fall 2010 edition). Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plate.stanford.edn/archives/fall2010/entries/moral-dilemmas/
McConnell T (1987) Moral dilemmas and consistency in ethics. In: Gowans CW (ed) Moral dilemmas. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 154–173
Oxford Dictionaries. Dilemma. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/dilemma
Poundstone W (1992) Prisoner’s dilemma. John Von Newmann, Game Theory and the Puzzle of the Bomb. Doubleday, New York
Ross WD (1930) The right and the good (1946 reprint edn). Oxford University Press, London
Sophocles (1986) The three Theban plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus (trans: Fagles R). Penguin, New York
Thomson JJ (1985) The trolley problem. Yale Law J 94(6):1395–1415
Walzer M (1983) Spheres of justice: a defense of pluralism and equality. Basic Books, New York
Wempe J, Donaldson T (2004) The practicality of pluralism: redrawing the simple picture of bipolarism and compliance in business ethics. In: Brenkert G (ed) Corporate integrity & accountability. Sage, London, pp 24–37
Wiltshire SF (1976) Antigone’s disobedience. Arethusa 9(1):29–36
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Wempe, J. (2019). Ethical Dilemmas. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_73-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_73-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences