35 Ethical Dilemmas Worksheet

8/12/2019 35 Ethical Dilemmas Worksheet

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35 Ethical Dilemmas

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1) Assume your wife is extremely ill, but you have no money with which to buy her medicine. She is extremely

uncomfortable, and may die if you don't get her the medicine she needs. Is it acceptable for you to break into the

pharmacy and steal the medicine? This dilemma forces you to consider moral laws versus written laws.

2) Your neighbor kills someone very close to you. You know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that it was he, but

the justice system lets you down and he is allowed to go free. What do you do, if anything? Do you take the law

into your own hands?

3) You're a juror in a trial in which the defendant pleads the Fifth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment protects

defendants against self-incrimination. Do you think about the fact that she pled the fifth when you are

considering how to vote? Is her silence an implicit admission of guilt?

4) You are in a boat with five other people, one of whom is extremely overweight, during a storm, the low-lying

boat starts taking on water. If things stay the way they are, everyone is going to drown. However, if you throw

the heavy person overboard the remaining five people will live. Do you throw him over for the sake of the

greater good, or do you let everyone die?

5) You're driving to work while texting and run into someone, which causes a multicar accident. You get out of

your car -- unhurt -- and see that the person you hit is dead. Then, someone comes up to you frantically and says

that she hit someone; in the chaos of the crash, she has convinced herself that she hit the person you hit. Do you

let her take the fall for you?

6) You run your own business and can claim business expenses. Since the IRS does not have many auditing

facilities, you realize that you can claim a number of expenses that are not legitimate. Do you do so in order to

pay lower taxes, even though you use the same roads, hospitals and schools as other people?

7) You're buying groceries and the total is $8. You hand the cashier a $10 bill, and she gives you $12 in change,

having thought that you gave her a $20. Do you tell her, or do you pocket the $10?

8) You and someone else are in locked rooms, unable to communicate with one another. Each of you has a

button you can press that will kill you while also unlocking the door to the other room. If an hour goes by

without either of you pressing the button, you'll both die. Do you press the button, or wait for him to press his

button?

9) There are two kinds of eggs available at the supermarket. The free-range hens' eggs are $5 a dozen, and the

eggs of hens kept in coops are $3 a dozen. What is more important to you: the hens' living conditions or the $2

savings?

10) You are grounded. Your parents are away for the evening. Friends drop by and want you to join them for a

hamburger. You know that it will be at least 2 hours before your parents come home. In sharing the dilemma

with your friends, they remind you that the punishment given by your parents was not fair. What choice to you

make?

11) The clerk at the record store forgot to charge you for one of the CDs you purchased. You realize this as

you are walking out of the store. In looking back to the register, there is already a long line. Your first thought

is that this wasn't your mistake. Maybe something like this will teach the clerk a lesson about being more

careful. Then, you think about how hungry you are and that the money just "saved" could feed you nicely.

What will you do?

12) You find a wallet containing $500. No one sees you pick it up. There is a name inside of the wallet.

But, you don't know the owner. In fact, you're not even sure if the address is close to your house. Again, you

look around and realize that nobody saw you. No one needs to know that you found the wallet. What will you

do?


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35 Ethical Dilemmas


13) At lunch time you realize that you forgot to do your math homework. The assignment is 3 pages long

with 45 computation problems to complete. Instead of eating, you start to do the assignment. A friend offers

you his completed assignment to copy before class. What will you do?

14) You promise a friend that you would go to the movies with him on Saturday. After you made the

promise, the most popular kid in school invites you to a swim party at his house on the same day. You're

thrilled to be invited and really want to go to his swim party. But your friend did not receive an invitation.

Should you cancel or uphold your commitment to go to the movies?

15) Your best friend makes fun of your 8 thgrade math teacher every day. Usually, it is just when the two of you

are alone. Other times, he does it when you're with friends. He even smarts off in class, poking fun of the

teacher. Your response is to laugh along whether youre alone with your friend or when he pokes fun in front of

the teacher or when you're with other kids. It's starting to get old, and you no longer find his actions funny. But

you don't know what to do. When you mention this to your friend, he tells you to lighten up - it's no big deal.

How do you respond?

16) A close friend gets a job as assistant manager of a record store. You visit her and she gives you three

CDs saying, "The owner is really a jerk and the inventory system is so bad here they never know what they

have in stock, Even my manager takes stuff home. You can have the CDs if you want." What would you do?

17) Now that you are a high school senior, your dad's on your case before you go out on Saturday nights. It

all started when you told him about how your friends have been drinking at some of the parties you go to. He

really freaked out when you told him that your friends are pressuring you to drink. You know if you're

caught drinking, you will be off the basketball team and lose any hope of receiving a scholarship. Your dad's

strategy is this - the next time you're asked to have a drink, you are supposed to lie and say that every time

you come home from a party, your dad gives you a drug test. This bothers you because it would not be the

truth. Do you follow your dad's suggestion? How would your dad feel if you said that telling a lie is not a

way to get out of this situation? What would you do?

18) Over the intercom at your middle school, the dean announces that a teacher's laptop has been stolen from

her classroom. If it is not turned in by the afternoon, a locker search will take place. You remember that when

you came to school this morning, you noticed that the kid whose locker is next to yours was stuffing what

looked like a laptop in his backpack. Do you go down to the office and share what you know with the dean? Do

you find the kid and ask if he took it? Maybe he'll give you some money (which you really could use) to have

you keep quiet. How should you proceed?

19) In your computer applications class, there are several students who gather together to discuss thelatest computer games. You play a couple of the games that are discussed, so you can occasionally

add to the conversation. You would like to fit in more to their group, but you dont have the all thegames. You can get copies of the games from one of the students who burns copies for a small price.Do you get into the group by paying a small price for the pirated software?

20) Your busy schedule has kept you from really working on that science research paper. It is due intwo days, and you have only a rough outline of what you are going to say. You need this paper to begood, to keep your sports and activities schedule from suffering. You need more supporting research.There is a web site that has ready to use research papers. In fact, you have found one that wouldwork for your paper. Your science teacher is very busy with school business and doesnt always checkthe reports against online copies. Do you use the online copy to fit your schedule, or do you makeroom in your schedule to write it yourself?


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35 Ethical Dilemmas


31) A fellow employee told me that he plans to quit the company in two months and start a new job

that has been guaranteed to him. Meanwhile, my boss told me that he wasn't going to give me a new

opportunity in our company because he was going to give it to my fellow employee now. What should

I do?

32) A friend at my workplace asks to use my computer terminal while Im away from my desk. Heworks in the programming group why cant he use his own computer? Does he want to enter somedata or program that he doesnt want his terminal ID to be associated with? How should I proceed?

33) I receive a certain weekly report that is necessary for me to do my particular job. It is markedCompany Confidential. I was called away from my desk while I was working with the report and Ileft it lying out. When I came back, I found a co-worker looking at the report and making notes fromits contents. Why is she doing this? How should I proceed?

34) You are employed as a receptionist. Your supervisor asks you to tell callers that she is not ineven though she is in the office. How do you handle this?

35) Your work pays for your cell phone because you are a delivery driver and they want to be able toreach you. You have been asked not to use your phone for sending text messages; they are not willingto pay for this feature. One of your friends keeps sending you text messages anyway. What shouldyou do?

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35 Ethical Dilemmas Worksheet