The Toughest Ethical Decisions: Right v. Right - A Critical Analysis

Running head: THE TOUGHEST ETHICAL DECISIONS
THE TOUGHEST ETHICAL DECISIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1THE TOUGHEST ETHICAL DECISIONS
In this particular essay the focus of the discussion shall be of critiquing the main premises
that have been discussed by Petzko and Shuran in their article ‘The Toughest Ethical Decisions:
Right v. Right’. The basic arguments that shall be discussed throughout the essay are that of
identifying the issues discussed in the article; identifying the different core values involved in
resolving of the ethical dilemmas; reflecting upon how these issues and values resonate or
conflict with own value system of the concerned student; discussing the role of law in the
resolving of the ethical dilemmas; critically evaluating the manner in which the ethical dilemmas
are resolved in relation to our society. These are supposed to be the main questions that shall be
discussed in the following sections of the essay in a critical manner. The most basic argument of
the essay is that the authors Petzko and Shuran harps upon the issue that the most difficult form
of ethical decision making lies in the fact that it is more difficult to decide between two
situations as the only correct one when both of them are correct and the necessity lies in
reconciling the two rights or choosing which one is more correct in comparison to the other one.
This kind of situations are tough as these situations force an individual to commit a wrong by
choosing the more correct one. This is the basic ethical dilemma which shall be discussed in the
essay as hinted by the authors Petzko and Shuran in their article ‘The Toughest Ethical
Decisions: Right v. Right’1.
With regard to the identifying the issues discussed in the article; identifying the different
core values involved in resolving of the ethical dilemmas a critical analysis of the main points
shall be provided in this particular essay. As pointed out by Petzko and Shuran, “It should be
relatively easy to make decisions that are a clear choice between right and wrong. The really
1 N. Petzko, Vicki, and Mick Shuran. "The Toughest Ethical Decisions: Right V. Right."
Google.com. N.p., 2019. Web. 1 Sept. 2019.

2THE TOUGHEST ETHICAL DECISIONS
difficult decisions are those that require you to choose between two right options2”, this has
been critiqued by Kidder (1995) which he had used examples to explain his position by saying
that, “All of us face tough choices. Sometimes we duck them. Sometimes we address
them....however, we don’t always decide to resolve them....Sometimes we simply bull our way
through to a conclusion by sheer impatience and assertive self-will, as though getting it
resolved is more important than getting it right3”. Kidder has said that the situation is very
much relatable to a situation that prevails in a school environment wherein he says that a teacher
who tends to abuse a child gets overlooked while a child who abuses the teacher is very strictly
handled, which has somewhat been viewed with a critical undertone by Kidder (1995), and hue
has also made it very evident that in this way the justice is not upheld rather the injustice is
perpetrated is more as what justice means to one is injustice to the other person and that was
being manifested in the situation given by Kidder (1995). Having implied that with a critical
undertone, Kidder (1995) points out that it is a situation of ethical dilemma that is faced by the
person who has upon himself or herself to with regard to taking the decisions as to which one is
correct and which one is not. Thus it can be said that what Petzko and Shuran has defined as tbe
difficulty in arriving at a decision to decide between two rights, Kidder (1995) has mentioned of
such decision making as a mechanism by which decision is made by overlooking one aspect over
the other based upon the situation and also adjudging upon what is more advantageous and shall
be having more advantage over the other, and also which decision shall lead to less consequences
of adverse nature than the other.
2 N. Petzko, Vicki, and Mick Shuran. "The Toughest Ethical Decisions: Right V. Right." Google.com. N.p., 2019.
Web. 1 Sept. 2019.
3 N. Petzko, Vicki, and Mick Shuran. "The Toughest Ethical Decisions: Right V. Right." Google.com. N.p., 2019.
Web. 1 Sept. 2019.