Are you right?

“It is not enough to be nice; you have to be good. We are attracted by nice people, but only on the assumption that their niceness is a sign of goodness.”

― Roger Scruton

Oprah Winfrey interview with Lance Armstrong was quite engaging and evoked questions like when should we really accept our mistakes? Is it after everyone knows the truth or should one be proactive to reveal any wrongdoings?

What motivates someone to reveal their mistakes and accept repercussions even if no other person knows about them?

If that motivation is strong enough, why didn't it stop them from committing that mistake in the first place?

Ethical dilemmas are situations in which there is a difficult choice to be made between two or more options, neither of which resolves the situation in a manner that is consistent with accepted ethical guidelines.

Check out the trolley and train track dilemma and its various versions. It's fun to challenge yourself and see what decisions you make in those scenarios.

It's not a purely hypothetical exercise. Autonomous and self-driving cars need to be programmed with an ethical code that has to make these tough decisions. Whether to save the passenger at all cost or are they expendable if it needs to save more people on road.

One can also determine the difference between ethics and legality via this small example -

You cannot stand wearing a mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It makes your glasses fog up and it is simply uncomfortable. You have not been feeling ill either. For the most part, you stay home and only venture out for occasional groceries.

Should you wear a make when you occasionally go to the grocery store?

When pondering this dilemma, consider that there’s no law that makes it mandatory to wear a make ( such as, there is no law that applies to your state or community).

Just because something is legal, is it still considered to be ethical.