Morally Right or Morally Wrong?

One of the things we addressed in class one day is the notion of a moral dilemma. During class I wondered what exactly a moral dilemma was. By simply typing in “define moral dilemma” in the Google search bar, a definition was displayed: “A moral dilemma is a conflict in which you have to choose between two or more actions and have moral reasons for choosing each action.” Then I decided to look up the words “moral” and “dilemma” separately to see what their definitions were. Morality deals with what is right or wrong in human behavior according to the Merriam-Webster website while a dilemma is a situation in which you have to make a difficult choice. At the end of class we were asked to ponder this scenario: there is one track with a trolley containing five people inside heading toward a cliff and a fat man is beside you. You have two choices: don’t push the man to stop the doomed trolley or push him and possibly save five lives. There are two ways to look at it. One: Save one life and lose five. Two: you can sacrifice one life to save five. One could say by choosing the first option it is not your fault that those five died. You didn’t start the trolley. You didn’t send it heading for a cliff. You didn’t tell those people to stay on board the trolley (It might have been going slow enough for them to safely jump off before it barreled over the cliff). On the other hand, option two could deem you a murderer because you physically and willingly pushed a man to his death. You are directly responsible for him losing his life. The thing about moral dilemmas is that the person facing the dilemma may not always have the full story. For instance, a lot of things play into this scenario that isn’t mentioned, but we’re supposed to make a sound judgment on a limited amount of knowledge. It’s like court trials. People are expected to review evidence, to hear both sides of the story, etc. before making a choice to seal one’s fate. Is it really good or morally acceptable to make judgements without knowing the full story? Is it morally acceptable to commit murder to save the lives of others? Those questions can only be answered individually based on the type of people we are.