SLS Week 4

1.Consider

the moral dilemmas presented in Thinking Activity 9.3 on pages 381-382 of your

textbook.

Choose

2 of the dilemmas and describe the decision that you would make in this

situation and explain why.

·Review

your answers and consider if you used the same values or if you used different

values. How did your values relate to one another?

·Identify

the moral value(s) or principle(s) on which you based your decision.

·Based

on your analysis of the moral values that you used, describe your general

conclusions about your own moral compass.

Re-type and then respond to these questions. Your response should consist of

1- page.

Thinking Activity 9.3

ANALYZING MORAL DILEMMAS the following dilemmas ask you to respond with decisions

based on moral reasoning. After thinking carefully about each situation, do the

following: • Describe the decision that you would make in this situation

and explain why. • Identify the moral value(s) or principle( s) on which you

based your decision. • At the conclusion of the activity, compare the moral values

that you used. Did you find that you consistently used the same values to make

decisions, or did you use different values? If you used different ones, how did

the various values relate to one another? • Based on this analysis, describe

your general conclusions about your own moral compass. 1. The Lifeboat: You are the captain, and your ship struck an

iceberg and sank. There are thirty survivors, but they are crowded into a

lifeboat designed to hold just seven. With the weather stormy and getting

worse, it is obvious that many of the passengers will have to be thrown out of

the lifeboat, or it will sink and everyone will drown. Will you have people

thrown over the side? If so, on what basis will you decide who will go? Age?

Health? Strength? Gender? Size? 2. The

Whistle- Blower: You are employed by a large corporation that manufactures

baby formula. You suspect that a flaw in the manufacturing process has resulted

in contamination of the formula in a small number of cases. This contamination

can result in serious illness, even death. You have been told by your

supervisor that everything is under control and warned that if you blow the

whistle by going public, you will be putting the entire company in jeopardy

from multimillion- dollar lawsuits. You will naturally be fi red and

blackballed in the industry. As the sole provider in your household, your

family depends on you. What do you do?

3. The Mad Bomber: You are a police lieutenant heading an investigation of

a series of bombings that have resulted in extensive damage, injuries, and

deaths. Your big break comes when you capture the person who you are certain is

the so- called mad bomber. However, he tells you that he has placed a number of

devices in public locations and that they will explode, at the cost of many

innocent lives and injuries. You believe that your only chance of extracting

the locations of these bombs is to torture this person until he tells. If you

decide to do this, both your career and the legal case against the mad bomber

will be placed in jeopardy. What do you do?

4. The Patient: As a clinical psychologist, you are committed to protecting

the privacy of your patients. One afternoon, a patient tells you that her

husband, who has been abusing her physically and mentally for years, has

threatened to kill her, and she believes he will. You try to convince her to

leave him, but she tells you that she has decided to kill him. She is certain

that he would find her wherever she went, and she feels that she will be safe

only when he is dead. What do you do? 5.

The Friend: As the director of your department, you are in charge of fi ll-ing

an important vacancy. Many people have applied, including your best friend, who

has been out of work for over a year and needs a job desperately. Although your

friend would likely perform satisfactorily, there are several more experienced

and talented candidates who would undoubtedly perform better. You have always

prided yourself on hiring the best people, and you have earned a reputation as

someone with high standards who will not com-promise you’re striving for

excellence. Whom do you hire?