Moral Dilemmas

Moral dilemmas are thought experiments which ask you to imagine a difficult situation and decide what you think the morally correct course of action would be. There are no truly ‘right’ answers to these questions, as they often ask you to compare two different moral imperatives and choose which one you feel is most important.

For example, if we accept that it is morally correct to never torture a living creature, and that it is morally correct to save a human’s life if you have the ability to do so, how do you decide what to do if you can only save a human’s life by torturing someone else?

Read through these 25 moral dilemmas, and have a think about what you might do in each situation.

  • The Unfaithful Wife

    You are an emergency worker that has just been called to the scene of an accident. When you arrive you see that the car belongs to your wife. Fearing the worst you rush over, only to see she is trapped in her car with another man. He is obviously her lover, with whom she’s been…

  • The Trapped Mining Crew

    Heather is part of a four-person mining expedition. There is a cave-in and the four of them are trapped in the mine. A rock has crushed the legs of one of her crew members and he will die without medical attention. She’s established radio contact with the rescue team and learned it will be 36…

  • The Tortured Child

    Imagine that a powerful alien were to visit earth, with the ability to eradicate war, famine and suffering. The alien says that he will do this, and turn the world into a utopia where humans will be happy and peaceful forever more, but only if a price is paid. He demands a small child be…

  • The Submarine Crew

    Mark is a crewperson on a marine-research submarine traveling underneath a large iceberg. An onboard explosion has damaged the ship, and killed and injured several crewmembers. Additionally, it has collapsed the only access corridor between the upper and lower parts of the ship. The upper section, where Mark and most of the others are located,…

  • The Sinking Lifeboat

    You are going on a cruise. Two days into the cruise your ship experiences technical difficulties and the captain says it needs to make an unscheduled stop. A couple of hours later the captain makes another announcement that the ship’s hull has been breached and that you will all need to start heading to life…

  • The Sick Patients

    You are a skilled doctor, with five patients who all need different organ transplants. There are currently no organs available to give them, and if they don’t get their transplants soon they will all die. You have a sixth patient, who is dying of an incurable disease. At the moment you are giving him medicine…

  • The Runaway Trolley

    A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five workmen who will be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Molly is on a footbridge over the tracks, in between the approaching trolley and the five workmen. Next to her on this footbridge is a stranger who happens to be very large.…

  • The Robin Hood Robber

    You witness a man rob a bank, but instead of keeping the money for himself, he donates it to a local orphanage. You know this orphanage has been struggling for funding, and this money will allow the children to receive proper food, clothing and medical care. If you report the crime, the money will be…

  • The Pregnant Lady and The Dynamite

    A group of five people being led out of a coastal cave are trapped behind a pregnant woman who has become stuck in the mouth of that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them and unless she is unstuck they will all be drowned – except the woman, whose head is…

  • The Poisoned Coffee

    Tom, hating his wife and wanting her dead, puts poison in her coffee, thereby killing her. Jane also hates her husband, and would like him dead. One day her husband accidentally puts poison in his own coffee, thinking it is cream. Jane realises this, and has the antidote that could save him, but does not…

  • The Plagiarised Report

    You are an English teacher at a high school. One of your pupils is a very bright and gifted girl, whom you have always enjoyed teaching. She has always achieved A grades throughout her school years, and is now in her final year and getting ready to graduate. Unfortunately she has been very ill this…

  • The Overloaded Lifeboat

    Doug is on a cruise ship when there is a fire on board, and the ship has to be abandoned. The lifeboats are carrying many more people than they were designed to carry. The lifeboat he’s in is sitting dangerously low in the water – a few inches lower and it will sink. The seas…