How to Resolve Ethical Dilemmas

An ethical dilemma is not a situation with one clear right answer. It’s a situation where two or more values you care about point in different directions. You have to choose which one wins. This article looks at how to think through this kind of problem, step by step.

MCQ Questions

Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

How to Resolve an Ethical Dilemma

A genuine dilemma is right vs. right, not right vs. wrong

Step 1

Identify the competing values

Name the two genuine duties or values actually in conflict.

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Step 2

Gather the facts

Many apparent dilemmas turn out simpler once all facts are known.

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Step 3

Weigh the consequences

Consider the likely outcome of each realistic option.

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Step 4

Decide and defend it

Choose the option you could explain openly, not keep hidden.

The “front page test”

Would you be comfortable if this decision, and your reasoning, were reported on the front page of a newspaper?

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know

Must Know

An ethical dilemma is a situation where a person must choose between two or more options. Each option conflicts with an important value or duty. No option satisfies everything at once.
A right vs. wrong problem — should I take this bribe? — is not really a dilemma. The correct answer is usually clear, even if it’s hard to act on. A true dilemma is usually right vs. right. For example: loyalty to a friend versus honesty to your employer. Both are good values, now in conflict.
A common four-step method for working through a dilemma: first, identify the competing values or duties clearly. Second, gather the relevant facts — many apparent dilemmas turn out to be simpler once all the facts are known. Third, consider the likely consequences of each option. Fourth, make a decision you can defend and explain, rather than one you’d rather keep hidden.
Civil-service exams often use scenario-based dilemmas — a realistic story followed by several possible responses — to see whether a candidate can reason through competing values, not just recite a definition.

Good to Know

Ethicist Rushworth Kidder described several classic patterns that most real dilemmas fall into: truth versus loyalty, individual versus community, short-term versus long-term, and justice versus mercy. Recognising which pattern you’re facing can make the decision easier to reason through clearly.
A helpful test for a genuine dilemma is the “front page test.” Would you be comfortable if your decision, and your reasoning for it, were reported on the front page of a newspaper? This doesn’t replace careful reasoning. But it’s a quick, practical check against decisions you already suspect you can’t honestly defend.
Different ethical frameworks already covered on this site can point to different answers for the same dilemma. A utilitarian focuses on which option produces the best overall outcome. A Kantian focuses on which option follows the right duty, regardless of outcome. A virtue ethicist asks what a person of good character would do. Knowing which lens you’re using helps you explain your own reasoning clearly.
Not every dilemma has to be solved entirely alone. Consulting relevant rules, a trusted senior colleague, or an ethics committee is itself a legitimate and often wise part of resolving a genuine dilemma, not a sign of weak judgment.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

Philosophers distinguish a genuine moral dilemma from a merely difficult decision. In a genuine dilemma, two real duties truly conflict — choosing one means failing the other to some degree. In a difficult decision, the right answer is actually clear; it’s just personally costly or unpopular to carry out. The exam sometimes tests whether a candidate can tell the two apart.
Some philosophers argue genuine moral dilemmas are rare. Careful enough analysis, they say, usually reveals one option is in fact the better choice, once all values and facts are weighed properly. Others argue some conflicts are real and irreducible. No amount of analysis fully removes the loss involved in choosing one value over another.
A recurring civil-service theme is that even a well-reasoned resolution to a dilemma may still leave a “moral residue” — a lingering sense of loss for the value not chosen. This is treated as a normal, honest part of ethical decision-making, not a sign that the wrong choice was made.

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