Moral Dilemmas and Responsible Innovation

Ruth Barcan Marcus (Philosopher of Logic) has introduced a regulative second order principle for showing that the consistency of a set of moral codes is compatible with reality of moral dilemmas. According to the principle, moral agents have a second order obligation to avoid dilemmas and to organize her lives in such a way that it will be not necessary in future to make a choice between two obligations. Jeroen Van den hoven used the principle for engineering ethics. His solution for dilemmas is a technical (using technological innovation) and in opposition of solutions which are found in samples described by Marcus which are social in nature. In this essay by comparing Marcus’ and Van den Hoven’s ideas, I argue that the cases discussed by van den haven are not real moral dilemmas. I also argue that there are some real moral dilemmas, discussed in ethics of technology, which are real moral dilemmas but cannot be solved by technical solutions.