Business Ethics (PHIL 320-02)-- Spring Semester, 2012
Metropolitan State University
First Position Paper Assignment (Now updated for Spring 2012)
Second Position Paper Assignment (Now updated for Spring 2012)
Possible questions for first exam (Now updated for Spring 2012)
Possible questions for second exam (Now updated for Spring 2012.)
Paper writing guides:
Instructor's Office Hours: In my office (312 St. John's Hall, St. Paul Campus) Monday, 4:30-7:00; Tuesday, 12:00-3:00; Wednesday, 11:00-1:00
At Midway (in the lower level common area where the tables and vending machines are) Tuesday, 3:30-6:00
Note: their will probably be some changes as we go along. Hit the refresh button on your browser to make sure you have the most current version.
Date |
Topic |
Reading (Note: MM=Moral Mazes; BEF = Business in Ethical Focus) |
Writing |
Handouts |
Jan. 9 |
Introductory Session |
None |
Cases for Discussion | |
Jan. 16 |
King Holiday - No class - Free market purism vs. stakeholder theory |
BEF, Ch's 8 (Freidman) and 9 (Freeman) (pp.65-78); MM, Intro and Chapter 1 |
Response paper Send this to me by email on or before Jan 16) |
Four Perspectives on Businesss Behavior; Discussion Project: Applying Stakeholder and Stockholder Theories |
Jan. 23 |
Background: approaches to ethics |
BEF Ch's 3-7 (pp. 29-60); MM Ch. 2 |
Response paper |
Discussion Project: Applying Kant's Categorical Imperative |
Jan. 30 |
Background: economics |
BEF Ch's 43 (Smith - just pp.487-490), 2 (Sen - pp. 20-28), 12 (Heath - pp.110-130), 42 (Locke - pp.475-482), 44 (Marx - pp.490-497) |
Response paper |
Notes on Ethics and Markets; |
Feb. 6 |
Background: theories of justice |
BEF Ch's 45-48 (Rawls, Nozick, Nielsen. Cohen) (pp. 498-550) |
Response paper |
Notes on Rawls and Nozick; First Position Paper Assignment; Links to the slides on economic inequality: here; The interactive graph of income changes is from the Economic Policy Institute. |
Feb. 13 |
Employment at will or Due process |
BEF Ch's 22 (Werhane & Radin) and 23 (Epstein), (pp. 255-266) Case Studies 1 and 3 (pp. 246-7, 316-17); MM Ch. 3 |
Response paper |
Possible questions for first exam; Discussion Project on Employment at Will |
Feb. 20 |
Intellectual property |
BEF Ch's 49 (Hettinger) and 50 (Paine), Case studies 7 and 8 (pp. 550-580) |
Response paper;First Position Paper due. |
Discussion Project on Intellectual Property |
Feb. 27 |
How people get ahead in business |
BEF Ch's 31 (Hettinger) and 32 (Pojman) (pp. 324-255); MM Ch.4 (review Ch 3) |
Response paper; First exam; Possible Exam Questions |
Discussion Project on Affirmative Action Arguments; Some Arguments about Affirmative Action; Jackall's Rules |
March 5 |
Spring Break – no class |
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March 12 |
Whistleblowing |
BEF Ch's 24 (DeGeorge) and 25 (Larmer) (pp.267-278), MM Ch. 5 |
Response paper |
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March 19 |
Occupational Safety |
BEF Ch's 28 (Superson) and 29 (Machan) (pp.302-315); MM Ch. 6 |
Response paper |
Discusssion Project on Whistleblowing |
March 26 |
Environmental responsibility |
BEF Ch's 18-21 (Sagoff, Shrader-Frechette, Poff, Machan) (pp. 189-245) |
Response paper; |
Video links: Ray Anderson's TED talk; |
April 2 |
Global business and sweatshops |
BEF Ch's 15-16 (Maitland and Donaldson) pp.154-180 |
Response paper;Second Position Paper can be turned in. |
PBS version of "China Blue" |
April 9 |
Truth, Lies and Bluffing |
BEF Ch 36 (Carr) pp.400-409, Ch.38 (Allhoff) pp.432-439), Ch 51 (Machan) pp.584-592; MM Ch. 7 |
Response paper; Second Position Paper due for sure |
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April 16 |
Free choice or distorted desires? |
BEF Ch's 52-55 (Waide, Crisp, Arrington, Paine) pp.592-626, Case Studies 9 and 10, pp.640-644 |
Response paper |
Discussion Project on Advertising to Children |
April 23 |
Wrap up |
MM, Ch 8 |
Second exam; Possible exam questions |