Heinz's dilemma is a frequently used example in many ethics and morality classes. One well-known version of the dilemma, used in Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, is stated as follows:
A woman was on her deathbed. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered.
The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug.
The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it.”
So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's laboratory to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?
道德两难情境，是使人感到左右为难、模棱两可的道德情境。面对这种情境，个体无法对它作出“是”或“非”的断然判断，只能对矛盾情境进行深入的分析和思考，再作出谨慎的选择，表达自己的观点态度。
“海因茨偷药”是著名的道德两难问题，被心理学家科尔伯格用于专业研究中，以完善其道德发展阶段理论。
科尔伯格的道德发展六阶段理论，基于杜威的道德推理及皮亚杰的儿童道德判断发展阶段模式，是对他们的道德发展理论的继承和完善。皮亚杰的理论主要是儿童（12岁前）阶段的研究，而科尔伯格的这项研究则是针对10岁到28岁的研究对象进行纵向研究。对道德发展进行了更细致具体的分类（杜威分为三分阶段，皮亚杰分为四个阶段），即三个水平、六个阶段：
前习俗水平
第一阶段：惩罚与服从道德定向阶段。
第二阶段：相对功利道德定向阶段。习俗水平
第三阶段：寻求认可定向阶段，也可以叫做“好孩子”定向阶段。
第四阶段：维护权威或秩序的道德定向阶段。后习俗水平
第五阶段：社会契约定向阶段。
第六阶段：普遍原则的道德定向阶段，也叫良心道德阶段。
实际上，科尔伯格的道德的发展理论涉及了如下命题，它们伴随着个体的生命历程：
- 个体如何趋利避害？
- 如何获得他人与社会的尊重及认可？
- 什么是更为普适的公正的价值观？
用两难问题检测个体自身价值观和社会赋予的道德观之间的冲突，来判断出个体的道德水平所处层次。它的意义在于，对道德-伦理这种抽象概念进行科学的解释和证明；使针对儿童的道德教育变得更为有章可循；还可以激励人们往更高的道德层次发展。
PS: 一些经典的两难问题（道德思想实验）：有轨电车难题、定时炸弹、卡涅阿德斯船板
