To Be Or Not to Be

Case Background:
You became the chief of police in your place after successfully going after big time computer hackers and a syndicate engaged in the production and sale of pirated software. One day, you find out that your eldest son is an active computer hacker. When you confront your son, he tells you that he is sorry and he promises that he will never again engage in activities involving computer crimes. You are now faced with the problem of having to choose between two options: first, as a chief or police, you have a duty to arrest your own son; and second, as a parent, you have the duty to protect your son.


The Problem of Moral Principle

My decisions in my son’s case will be according to what I believe in. If I think that setting my son free will make more good than harm, then I have to make a decision even if it will be against my job as a police officer. However, if in the event that setting my son free will bring more problem in my family and in the society, then I have to exercise my duty as a police officer even if it is against my will as a father.

The Problem of the Scope of Morality

Again, my actions in my son’s case will be according to what is actually significant for me between my role as a father and my profession as a police officer. First, I have to ask myself what morality is for me. If I see it as something that dictates my conscience as a father then I have to forgive my son and I will no longer bring him to jail with the assurance that he will no longer do his illegal activities again.

The Problem of Moral Obligation

As a father, I have moral obligations to protect my son from harm. However, I have also moral obligations as a police to keep my society peaceful and free from any form of crimes. I know that it will not be easier for me to make a decision considering my moral obligations that I have for my family and for my society.

The Problem of Freedom

According to Voltaire, “man is free at the moment he wishes to be”. As a father, I have the power to let my son free from jail. And that is because I care for him and I love him. However, my action will not define the true essence of being free. Being free is actually living in the environment where peacefulness abounds and justice is always being served. And with this, I have to send my son in jail for the crime he committed.

Conflicting Moral Obligations

As defined by different factors in life, each of us has different obligations to others, to the society where we live in, and to our own self. However, more often than not, we get into a problem when we have to make a decision and choose one thing over the other. This results to a dilemma of what moral obligation should be followed. The decisions to be made may be based on moral and legal values, or even to what are dictated by our conscience. Should we follow our mind about what we think is moral and suffer the legal consequences of the action we would make, or play by the rule and lose our morality over things? Would you agree to someone who once said, “I’d rather take a beating from a mob than from my conscience.”? With these predicaments, I would say that the problem of conflicting moral obligations is the most pervasive among moral problems.