ethical quandaries
Right-wrong tough calls
Ethical quandaries are situations where moral principles conflict, making the right course of action unclear.
Unlike simple choices between right and wrong, a quandary involves competing goods or the lesser of evils: The doctor faced an ethical quandary when the patient refused life-saving treatment.
The phrase appears frequently in philosophy, medicine, and journalism to describe genuinely difficult moral terrain rather than clear-cut violations.
- whistleblowingExposing hidden wrongdoing internally
- conflict of interestCompromised impartiality from competing stakes
- moral dilemmaChoice testing one's values
- gray areaAmbiguous, ill-defined situation
- conscienceInternal moral sense
doing the right thing · moral compass · justice · utilitarianism · informed consent · equality · confidentiality · trolley problem · lesser evil · human rights · deontology · guilt · accountability · consequentialism · slippery slope · categorical imperative · workplace fairness · moral ambiguity
- comic book ethicsgood vs evil, justice, redemption, sacrifice, heroism
- Literary Moralsmoral lessons, moral lesson, moral fables, morality tales, moral narrative
- gray areasgray areas, murky waters, fuzzy boundaries, ambiguities, fine lines
ethical quandariesmoral certainties
Beliefs held as unquestionable truths
no-brainers · clear conscience · moral absolutes · self-evident truths · foregone conclusions
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