Write a 1250-1750-word essay on the following question:
Do genuine moral dilemmas exist (where the term “moral dilemma”
signifies a situation in which an agent must do something morally wrong no matter
what available course of action is taken)?
In your essay you should state your own answer to the question and provide
a defense of your position that reflects substantial acquaintance with moral-
philosophical discussions of the issue studied in the course. You should give
reasons in support of your position, anticipate possible objections to your position,
and respond to those objections.
If, in developing your own position, you draw on the work of philosophers
studied in the course, naturally you should cite the work of those philosophers. In
any event, the point of the exercise is to develop your own view and not to report
on the philosophical work of others. For this reason and because the course’s
philosophical materials on dilemmas give a fairly comprehensive account of the
issues, I am asking that you NOT do further research in support of the position you
are developing.
Of course, in a paper of this length one cannot provide a comprehensive
philosophical defense of a position on a matter this complex. Accordingly, you
should emphasize a particular line of argument, and, where appropriate, explicitly
acknowledge issues that remain unsettled or positions you are assuming without
argument to get on with the argument you are making.