What are the three general causes or sources of ethical dilemmas?

What are the three general causes or sources of ethical dilemmas?

• A. Uncertainty, competing values, and potential harm
• B. Lack of information
• C. Personal bias
• D. Conflicting duties

Answer: (A)

Ethical dilemmas occur when no option fully satisfies all moral considerations. The three general sources you’re looking for are uncertainty, competing values, and potential harm. Uncertainty covers situations where facts, outcomes, or even which values should take precedence aren’t clear, so you can’t predict with confidence what would be right. Competing values involve conflicts between important principles or duties, such as honesty versus compassion, or autonomy versus beneficence, where each value argues for a different course of action. Potential harm refers to the negative consequences that any choice could impose on people affected, so you have to balance benefits and harms across stakeholders. Together, these elements create the typical landscape of ethical dilemmas. The other options capture related factors but don’t represent the full trio: lack of information is a form of uncertainty; personal bias is a factor that can color judgment; conflicting duties is a specific kind of value conflict rather than the general trio.

Ethical dilemmas occur when no option fully satisfies all moral considerations. The three general sources you’re looking for are uncertainty, competing values, and potential harm. Uncertainty covers situations where facts, outcomes, or even which values should take precedence aren’t clear, so you can’t predict with confidence what would be right. Competing values involve conflicts between important principles or duties, such as honesty versus compassion, or autonomy versus beneficence, where each value argues for a different course of action. Potential harm refers to the negative consequences that any choice could impose on people affected, so you have to balance benefits and harms across stakeholders. Together, these elements create the typical landscape of ethical dilemmas. The other options capture related factors but don’t represent the full trio: lack of information is a form of uncertainty; personal bias is a factor that can color judgment; conflicting duties is a specific kind of value conflict rather than the general trio.