S1 - Intro

Question 1

What are values ? What are their characteristics?

Answer 1

“Beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important in life”

1) Universal (present in all cultures and societies, across time)
2) Emotionally charged (the sense of “moral outrage” when values are threatened)
3) Motivational (associated with one’s hopes and dreams for the future)
4) Evaluative (providing criteria to determine if an action is “good” or “bad”)
5) Transcendent (applying across different situations)
6) Subjectively ranked (hierarchies of values, value trade-offs)

Question 2

What is an ethical dilemma?

Answer 2

When making a decision, people perceive the ethical dilemma as if they were pulled in two (or more) opposite directions, torn apart in their choice.