Dzejni/Fotolia
All boards: Ethics options
You are in a burning building. Standing in front of you is a scientist who has discovered but hasn’t yet published the cure for cancer, next to your own father. You can only save one. Who do you choose? This is an example of the tragic dilemma, which forms one of the cornerstones of modern ethical thinking. Here we find the true dichotomy between normative ethical theories, with utilitarianism and deontology seeing a clear right and wrong action, and the more character-based theory of virtue ethics suggesting that the agent emerges with ‘blood on their hands’ either way.
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