Philosophy 6

Readings for 6/1-6/3

2009-05-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

For next week, you should read all of the readings under the "Consumer Safety" section. Don't worry, all of the articles except the Piker article are 1-2 pages long.

Readings 5/27-5/29

2009-05-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

5/27/2009 We'll be continuing Desjardins "Corporate Environmental Responsibility" from Friday

5/29/2009 Norton "The natural environment as a salient stakeholder: non-anthropocentrism, ecosystem stability and the financial markets"

Your final paper is due 6/5/2009
Your final quiz will be 6/5/2009
[6/5/2009 is the last day of class]

Updated Reading Assignment

2009-05-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

We'll continue with Shrader-frechette on Monday.

We're going to skip the section on consumer safety for now to ensure we cover everything in the section on business and the environment. So, you do not need to read the Piker article on liability(or any of the other articles in that section). We'll come back to this section at the end of the term if we have time.

The quiz will be on Wednesday May 20, and anything under the "Business and Employees" section will be fair game.

Helpful Links

2009-05-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Moyer published all the documents cited in "Trade Secrets" on his website for the film.

Here is a link to NIOSH pocket guide to chemical hazards.

Here is a link to OSHA.

Remaining Quizzes

2009-05-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

We'll have two more quizzes for this course (our third and fourth quizzes).

The third quiz will fall in the week of May 18-22. Anything under the "Business and Employees" Section, and the "Consumer Safety" section (including a film we might watch) will be fair game for this quiz.

The fourth and final quiz will be on the last day of class, June 5th. Anything under the "Business and the Environment" section, and the "(Non) Compliance with Ethical Standards" section will be fair game for this quiz.

Sweatshops Links

2009-05-04T08:46:00.001-07:00

Nike to the Rescue? (you need to be on a university computer, or logged onto the proxy server to access this)

"Made in China"

Fair Labor Association

Nichoals Kristof's recent pro-sweatshop Op-Ed

"In Praise of Cheap Labor" (an article in which economist Paul Krugman argues in favor of sweatshops)

Readings for 5/4-5/8

2009-04-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday, May 1, we'll be discussing fair contracts. This discussion will be based on Alan Wertheimer's "Unconscionability and Contracts," and "Fair Transactions." You will not be responsible for these readings, but I encourage you to do them if you have time.

For next week, you should read the following:

Ian Maitland "The Great Non-Debate Over International Sweatshops" (by Monday)

Chris Meyers "Wrongful Beneficence: Exploitation and Third World Sweatshops" (by Wednesday)

Extra Credit Assignment

2009-04-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

If you attend Steven Greenhouse's lecture this week and complete the assignment posted on the right, you'll receive extra credit on your first quiz. See the assignment for details.

Steven Greenhouse
Thursday, April 30
Campbell Hall
7:30 PM (FREE)

Quiz Next Wednesday (4/29/009)

2009-04-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

We'll have our second quiz next Wednesday. The format will be the same as the first quiz, and anything we've covered since the corporate responsibility material will be fair game.

There will be no surprises. To prepare for it, I suggest you simply review the material and notes, and think about them, and review the comments on your last quiz, so you are sure not to make the same mistakes (if any).

On Monday we'll be watching a video about advertising to children ("Consuming Kids"). This video is not held by the library, so I strongly encourage you to attend and watch it.

Have a good weekend.
Carmen

marketing video clip

2009-04-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

An interesting discussion of marketing and prescription drugs:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05162008/watch2.html

Readings for Next Week (4/20-2/24)

2009-04-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Readings for next week:

Monday:
Green "When is 'Everyone is Doing It' a moral justification?

Wednesday and Friday:
Arrington "Advertising and Behavioral Control"
Moore "Children and the Changing World of Advertising"

Readings for 4/13-4/17

2009-04-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Daniel Ostas "The Law and Ethics of K-Street"
Weissman "By the Numbers"
Nadar "The Highway Lobby"
Hargreaves "Oil's Washington Juggernaut"
Birnbaum "The Road to Riches is Called K-Street"

Carr "Is Business Bluffing Ethics?"
Carson "Second Thoughts About Bluffing"

I'll post the first paper topic on Friday, so keep an eye out for it.

Mortgage Crisis/Credit Crisis

2009-04-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the video on the credit crisis. As I said, be aware that it contains really offensive stereotypes, and that it leaves predatory lending out of the picture. Still, it gives a good general picture of how the mortgage crisis has affected our economy.

http://crisisofcredit.com/

Here are a couple of other helpful videos. The first concerns predatory lending specifically. The second concerns the mortgage crisis more broadly.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07182008/watch.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06292007/watch3.html

For the quiz, you just need to know something about the long standing practice of predatory lending. You can get this background by reading the pieces on the mortgage crisis in the reader. I'll provide some background information on the quiz itself. Rest assured that you do not need to know all about the mortgage crisis to do well.

Quiz on Friday 4/10/2009

2009-04-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

We'll have our first quiz this Friday. Your goal for the quiz should be to demonstrate your comfort with the corporate responsibility material and your ability to apply it to particular cases. To prepare, review the arguments and try to sort out for yourself what view of corporate responsibility you think is right (this will also help you prepare for the upcoming paper). Think about what a proponent of this view would have to say about the mortgage crisis and the predatory lending which lead to it.

The quiz will be open book, but not open note. You'll need to bring a blue book. It will consist of one essay question, and you'll have the entire class period to answer it.

We'll be discussing Bowie and the mortgage crisis readings on Wednesday. So be sure to read those articles before coming to class.

Don't forget about office hours if you have questions or want to discuss these topics further before the quiz!

Readings for Next Week (4/6-4/10)

2009-04-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Freeman "A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation"
Bowie "New Directions in Corporate Responsibility"
Trehan "The Mortgage Market: What Happened?"
Day "Villains in the Mortgage Mess: Start with Wall Street. Keep going"
Carr "Understanding the Credit Crisis: Don't Believe the Hype!"

Also, here are some links to cases that were discussed briefly in lecture this past week, and to the Friedman video clip [note: you won't be responsible for knowing this information for quizzes or papers, but some of you asked me about it after class] :

The Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward
extended contract rights to entities corporations/entities other than individuals

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company
Widely held to have set legal precedent for extending 14th amendment rights to corporations, though this is stated only in the text of the case, not in the official opinion of the court.

Mark Kasky v. Nike Inc
A suit brought against Nike for their distribution of letters which falsely claimed that Nike no longer used sweatshop labor. Nike's representatives argued that this action was protected under Nike's right to free speech since the letters discussed labor practices and not products (and therefore was not advertising/subject to consumer protection laws)

U.S. Security et al., v. Federal Trade Commission
One of a number of cases brought by a group of telemarketing companies argued that the "do not call list" violates their right to free speech

Friedman video clip

Have a good weekend!

Readings for 4/1/2009 and 4/3/2009

2009-03-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Freidman "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits"

Freeman "A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation"

Welcome to Philosophy 6

2009-03-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is the official class website for Philosophy 6 - Professional and Business Ethics.

Since the course instructor and the class TA will be posting updates, messages and assignments on this website regularly, it would be a good idea for all students enrolled in Phil 6 to check the website frequently.

A list of helpful class links (email, info, lecture notes, resources, etc) is located in the right hand column of this website. Please feel free to contact the Philosophy Department webmaster if there are any problems with the website. Thanks.

Sincerely, Carmen Zinn