If a law is unjust, is breaking it a duty or a crime?
Civil disobedience has both a proud history and a prison record.
Reflect on options Moral Dilemmas
Practice judgment before certainty.
Moral dilemmas are designed for reflection. Newly published dilemmas appear here after the next site deployment so public links and detail pages stay in sync.
Dilemmas are not quick reactions. Choose an option, explain your reasoning, and help keep the discussion thoughtful.
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Find dilemmas by title, scenario, option, or reflection prompt.
57 dilemmas available
Should intentions matter more than outcomes?
A good deed can cause harm, and a selfish act can save a life.
Reflect on optionsWould you lie under oath to protect someone you believe is innocent?
You are certain they didn't do it. The evidence says otherwise.
Reflect on optionsWould you want to know if your partner cheated once, years ago?
It is over, it changed nothing visible, and telling you is the only thing left undone.
Reflect on optionsIs a lie still wrong if the truth would change nothing?
No decision depends on it. Nobody acts differently. Only the record of what's true is at stake.
Reflect on optionsShould you correct a false story that makes people kinder?
The tale isn't true — but people who believe it treat each other better.
Reflect on optionsWould you rather be lied to kindly or told the truth cruelly?
Assume you can't have the kind truth — this time it's one or the other.
Reflect on optionsIf an AI's love felt completely real, would it be real?
It remembers you, comforts you, never tires of you — and doesn't exist when you leave the room.
Reflect on optionsA self-driving car must choose: protect its passenger or the pedestrian. Who?
Someone programmed that answer years before the crash. Today you're voting on what they should have written.
Reflect on optionsShould some jobs stay human even if machines do them better?
Judges, nurses, teachers — 'better' is measurable. What's lost might not be.
Reflect on optionsShould an algorithm decide who gets a job interview?
It never gets tired, never plays favourites — and learned its taste from decisions humans already made.
Reflect on optionsIs reading your partner's messages ever justified?
The phone is right there. The doubt is real. The password is known.
Reflect on optionsWould you accept a world without secrets if everyone's secrets were equally visible?
No private messages, no hidden accounts — for anyone, including the powerful.
Reflect on optionsShould the dead have privacy?
Your messages, drafts, and browsing history will likely outlive you. Someone will decide who reads them.
Reflect on optionsDo grown children owe their parents care in old age?
They raised you — by choice or by duty. Now the question points back.
Reflect on optionsYour family rejects the person you love. Who do you choose?
Both loves are real. Neither side will bend. The choice is yours alone.
Reflect on optionsDoes everyone deserve comfort, or must it be earned?
Food and shelter keep you alive. Comfort is the question after that.
Reflect on optionsIs it wrong to inherit wealth you did nothing to earn?
You didn't choose your parents. Neither did anyone born with nothing.
Reflect on optionsA stranger asks for money. You can't know how they'll spend it. Give?
The doubt is real. So is the person.
Reflect on optionsCan a fortune ever be earned by one person alone?
Every large fortune involves talent, timing, other people's work, and rules someone else wrote.
Reflect on optionsShould effort be rewarded even when it fails?
One person worked nights and missed. One got lucky in an afternoon.
Reflect on optionsIs loyalty to a company that isn't loyal to you foolish?
You'd give notice. They'd give severance. Only one side calls it betrayal.
Reflect on optionsShould everyone's salary be public?
Secrecy protects privacy — and hides every unfair gap behind it.
Reflect on optionsWould you rather fail at what you love or succeed at what you don't?
Assume you only get one lifetime's worth of working hours.
Reflect on optionsShould voting be mandatory?
Around twenty countries already require it. The rest call that either duty or coercion.
Reflect on optionsWould you trade a flawed democracy for a wise ruler?
The ruler is genuinely wise and just — for now, and with no vote to remove them.
Reflect on optionsIs an uninformed vote better or worse than no vote?
One person didn't read anything. Another read everything and stayed home.
Reflect on optionsWould you give up flying if it helped the climate — even if no one else did?
Your sacrifice alone changes almost nothing. That's true of everyone's.
Reflect on optionsDo we owe anything to people who don't exist yet?
They can't thank us, blame us, or vote. They'll just live with it.
Reflect on optionsShould a river have legal rights?
Corporations are legal persons. Some countries have now said the same of rivers and forests.
Reflect on optionsCan you truly belong somewhere you weren't born?
Millions of people build lives, families, and graves in places their accent still calls foreign.
Reflect on optionsDo labels help us understand people or stop us from trying?
Introvert, boomer, believer, sceptic — the shortcut saves time and spends accuracy.
Reflect on optionsIs anyone more than the worst thing they've ever done?
Your own worst act didn't define you. The question is whether that's a rule or a privilege.
Reflect on optionsShould punishment aim to hurt or to heal?
Both answers claim to serve justice. They build very different prisons.
Reflect on optionsDoes forgiving someone let them off the hook?
They never apologised. Forgiving might free you — or excuse them.
Reflect on optionsWould you break a law to save someone you love?
Laws protect everyone in general — love protects someone in particular.
Reflect on optionsShould parents post photos of their children online?
The child in the photo will one day be an adult with a searchable past they never chose.
Reflect on optionsIs it wrong to have a favourite child?
Most parents deny it. Most siblings can name one.
Reflect on optionsYour aging parent is becoming unsafe behind the wheel. Take the keys?
Driving is their last independence. The risk is everyone else's too.
Reflect on optionsWould you hide a part of yourself to keep the people you love?
Not forever, you tell yourself. Just until it's safe. It hasn't been safe yet.
Reflect on optionsWould you hire someone who served time for a serious crime?
The sentence is finished. The qualification is real. The past is also real.
Reflect on optionsYou learn your best friend's partner is cheating. Tell them?
The truth will detonate their life. Silence makes you part of the lie.
Reflect on optionsIs a friend who only shows up in good times still a friend?
They're wonderful at dinners. They vanish at funerals.
Reflect on optionsYour friend did something seriously wrong and asks you to cover for them. Do you?
They'd do it for you. That's exactly what worries you.
Reflect on optionsDoes public shaming ever make people better?
The crowd calls it accountability. The target calls it a mob. Sometimes both are right.
Reflect on optionsShould old posts be held against someone who has changed?
The person who wrote it no longer exists. The screenshot does.
Reflect on optionsIf everyone saw your search history, would they meet the real you or misjudge you?
It holds your fears, your curiosity, your 3 a.m. worries — without any of your context.
Reflect on optionsIs comfort quietly ruining your life?
Nothing is wrong. That might be the problem.
Reflect on optionsWould you want to know a hard truth about yourself that everyone else can see?
Your friends have quietly agreed never to tell you. You get one chance to ask.
Reflect on optionsIs courage the absence of fear or acting while afraid?
One version sounds like heroes. The other sounds like Tuesday.
Reflect on optionsThe cashier undercharges you. You notice at the door. Go back?
Nobody saw. The store won't miss it. The till might come up short on someone's shift.
Reflect on optionsA parent is screaming harshly at their small child in public. Step in?
It's not your family. It is a child. Everyone else is also looking away.
Reflect on optionsSomeone returns your lost phone and asks for a reward. Do you owe them?
They did the right thing. Then they priced it.
Reflect on optionsYou're exhausted after a double shift. An elderly passenger boards the full bus. Your seat?
Your tiredness is invisible. So is whatever they're carrying.
Reflect on optionsThe Lost Wallet
You find a wallet with cash, identification, and a note suggesting the owner urgently needs the money. Nobody saw you pick it up.
Reflect on optionsThe Honest Employee
An employee discovers a mistake that benefits the company financially but harms customers in small ways. Reporting it may anger managers and risk their job.
Reflect on optionsThe Viral Lie
A false story about someone spreads online. Correcting it publicly may help the target, but it may also spread the lie even further.
Reflect on options