Ethical dilemma questions
These are ordinary situations where two values collide: loyalty and honesty, kindness and fairness, privacy and responsibility. Read the case from both angles, then decide which rule you would defend.
State the competing values, the people affected, and the smallest fact that would change the decision. That keeps a discussion grounded in a choice rather than a verdict about who is good.
Six ethical dilemma questions
For: a promise protects trust and gives a friend space to tell a difficult story without fearing an audience.
Against: privacy cannot automatically outrank the burden placed on someone who never agreed to carry the secret.
Switch test: is the information needed to prevent a concrete harm, or only to relieve your discomfort about knowing it?
For: transparent correction protects the team and prevents one quiet repair from hiding a pattern.
Against: a private conversation can solve the problem without turning a recoverable error into a public humiliation.
Switch test: does the mistake affect a shared outcome, or is the main issue that someone wants credit for the fix?
For: keeping an obvious error transfers the loss to a person who may have no practical way to absorb it.
Against: a business sets the process and should not rely on customers to perform its reconciliation work.
Switch test: would you make the same choice if the error reduced your bill by one small amount rather than increasing it?
For: a timely truth can give someone information they need before a choice becomes harder to reverse.
Against: unsolicited criticism can make the speaker feel useful while leaving the other person with a burden they did not request.
Switch test: is the truth actionable, and have you earned a role in delivering it?
For: circumstances change, and honoring the present obligation can protect people who are now relying on you.
Against: promises become meaningless when convenience or a more exciting option can always outrank the original agreement.
Switch test: did the new commitment arise from necessity, or did you simply fail to protect the time you promised?
For: care should count when someone made a genuine effort to help and could not predict every preference.
Against: intention does not erase a cost that was obvious enough to ask about before acting.
Switch test: after the result is known, does the person repair the inconvenience or only explain why they meant well?
How UR WRONG works
Do not hide the real conflict behind a label like “selfish” or “rude.”
Look at the practical cost, not only the intention behind the choice.
Ask whether the same principle works when the power or inconvenience changes hands.
Read a real two-sided case and let the human jury decide without an AI answer key.