Definition of an ethical dilemma essay + Examples

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“Science is important, but so is ethics, so is balancing life. To destroy life to save life-it’s one of the real ethical dilemmas we face.” These words of President George Bush demonstrate how ethical dilemmas can be sharp, eve putting human lives at stake.

The killing of Osama Bin Laden by the US forces met celebrations and resentments in equal measure. Are there instances when killing is warranted, and death is celebrated? That an example of an ethical dilemma.

So, what is an ethical dilemma?

An ethical dilemma occurs when two or more specific ethical ideals are at odds, and you must make a decision, founded on your logical assessment, about which moral ideal is more important.

Therefore, an ethical dilemma essay provides a scene where a difficult choice between two contrasting moral ideals must be made, but that choice must be backed with evidence. It involves the analysis of the consequences of two divergent courses of action to find a pathway of reason.

Knowing the meaning of an ethical dilemma, we will see how you can develop a compelling ethical dilemma essay.

You could be asking what the essence of an ethical essay is in your life beyond the grade points. Well, there is much more you will learn for FREE. Life is a series of dilemmas, so you have to make difficult individual choices to define the career, find a suitable spouse and your best house mortgage program, etc. Who teaches you all these? The truth is that you had developed some excellent decision-making skills in your education years.

Four tips to writing a significant ethical dilemma essay

Tip 1: Draw and outline

In this initial stage of writing, identify contrasting ethical ideals, and use them to develop a topic for your essay. However, you can provide these in the instructions of completing an ethical dilemma essay; in this case, read and understand and collect sufficient supporting evidence for your stance. If you have to choose a topic, make sure that your dilemma is ethical by ensuring that it challenges two separate ethical assertions and forces you to decide between the two. For instance, you may choose to use the ethical dilemma of a hungry person deciding to steal food for himself and his family.

Tip 2: Determine which ethical standards are involved

Determine which ethical standards are being challenged and in what way they are being challenged, to outline your ethical dilemma. List all significant elements of your ethical dilemma. For example, whether or not to steal for survival challenges the ethical forbearance against theft contrasted with the need for survival. You can consider other ethical elements, such as the difference between the store owner’s loss of food against the loss of life by the thief and his family.

Tip 3: Arrange your analysis into sections

Create your paper outline and arrange the elements of your ethical dilemma into individual sections. Make sure that your paper’s logic flows freely through your essay in order to allow you to arrive at a conclusion. For instance, your first section may question the ethical forbearance against theft and whether it is absolute. Your second section may challenge the right to survival and whether it is fundamental. Your final area may compare the difference in severity between the shopkeeper who loses some food and the family that could perish for lack of it. This could become complex because the shopkeeper could end up in the same situation if enough of his stock is stolen.

Tip 4: Write compellingly

Write your paper with a strong introduction that grabs your reader’s attention and establishes your paper’s thesis. Write each section individually, clearly examine your points throughout, and include clear transition statements between your paragraphs. Create a conclusion that brings all of your points together and establishes a final assessment of your ethical dilemma, supported by the points you made in your paper.

Now we shift our focus to the format you can adopt for an excellent ethical dilemma. We know you want the best!

The format ethical dilemma essay

  1. The topic

Chose a topic that presents divergent ethical constructs to base your argument upon. The following are ideas for your ethical dilemma essay:

  • Surrogacy should be legalized.
  • All countries should abandon nuclear weapons.
  • Companies using animal testing should pay higher taxes. 
  • Only victims of accidents can use plastic surgery. 
  • Professional actors shouldn’t be allowed to play poker. 
  • Leather and fur clothes should be outlawed. 
  • Teens should have access to birth control pills. 
  • Politics and church should be separate. 
  • News writers should never distort the truth to astonish audiences. 
  • 10. Should teens have plastic surgery?
  • Introduction

Writing a good introduction paragraph will create a positive attitude in your examiner and increase your paper’s chances will be read to the end and a good grade awarded. Therefore ensure you have started your essay with a hook: a question, an anecdote, a quote, among other ideas which will draw the interest of the reader. Include a clear thesis statement in your introduction, which briefly describes why you take a particular stance on the ethical divide. Remember to avoid any mistakes in your introduction because it will only make your readers think you are a mediocre student. I know you aspire for great things and want nothing but the top score.

  • Body

The body section is the climax of your writing. Address one issue at a time in the body paragraph to ensure you communicate clearly. Do not mix up points in your presentation; you will bore your reader. Again tie your claims in this section to those you already raised in the thesis statement. Develop connectivity in your paper by using transitional words and expressions to ensure your essay’s flow is not jerky. After writing a great introduction, do not disappoint with an abysmal performance in the body section. Therefore, provide compelling evidence in support of the stance you take on the conflicting ethical issues. Don’t sound like doubting, so avoid phrases like “I think” and “In my opinion,” etc. you want to express boldness and confidence by using the third person in presenting your evidence. Your aim should be that your reader should think there was no ethical dilemma at the end of this section.

  • Conclusion

In the concluding paragraph, you can reiterate your position on the ethical issues by presenting a summary of our main ideas. You could also provide the implications of the evidence you have provided on your view of the contrasting ethical matters. However, see to it that you are not describing a different point in this section. Ensure your conclusion is in context; you don’t want to supply an irrelevant decision to an exemplary essay. You could also provide areas you would like to research more on ethical dilemmas.

Remember to acknowledge your sources by providing a corresponding list of references to your in-text citations. It is considered plagiarism if you do not acknowledge your sources appropriately.

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