Philosophy
104: Business Ethics, §CT3FA
Russell
Marcus, Instructor. Email
me.
Queens
College, Spring 2007
Syllabus
Meeting Times and Place:
- Tuesdays
and Fridays, 12:15pm - 1:30pm
- Powdermaker
Hall, Room 152
Required
Texts:
- Moral
Philosophy: A Reader, 3rd edition, Louis P. Pojman, ed. Hackett
Publishing Company, 2003.
- Conspiracy
of Fools, Kurt Eichenwald. Broadway Books, 2005.
- Various
handouts and/or downloads indicated in the Readings section of this
syllabus, and available here.
Course
Requirements:
- All
the readings listed below.
- Quizzes
(10%)
- Two Midterms
(25% each) Tentative dates:
- Paper,
3-5 pages (25%) Tentative due date:
- Final
Exam (15%)
Notes:
- I do
not give make-up exams.
- Late
papers will be accepted, but penalized.
- More
information on course requirements is available
here.
- The paper
assignment and directions for preparing for exams will be posted during
the term.
Tentative
Schedule:
January
30:
- Review
Syllabus
- Cicero,
"Three Case Studies in Business Ethics."
February
2-6 :
- Milton
Friedman, "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase
its Profits."
February
9-16:
- Kurt
Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools
February
20 - March 6:
- Plato,
"The Euthyphro Problem," pp 311-312.
- Kai Nielsen,
"Ethics without Religion," pp 327-333.
- Thomas
Hobbes, "Egoism as the Beginning of Morality," pp 62-71.
- Plato,
"Why Should I Be Moral?" pp 53-61.
March 9:
March 13
- March 23:
- Plato,
"What is Right Conduct?" pp 2-18.
- Herodotus,
"Custom is King," p 20.
- Ruth
Benedict, "A Defense of Ethical Relativism," pp 33-37.
- Louis
Pojman, "A Defense of Ethical Objectivism," pp 38-52.
March 23-
April 13:
- John
Stuart Mill, "Utilitarianism," pp 141-146.
- Jeremy
Bentham, "Classical Hedonism," pp 113-115.
- Robert
Nozick, "The Experience Machine, " pp 124-125.
- Kai Nielsen,
"Against Moral Conservatism," pp 147-156.
- Sterling
Harwood, "Eleven Objections to Utilitarianism," pp 179-192.
April 17
- April 24:
- Immanuel
Kant, "The Foundations of Ethics," pp 194-213.
- Fred
Feldman, "An Examination of Kant's Ethics," pp 214-228.
April 27
:
May 1 -
May 8 :
- Aristotle,
"Virtue Ethics," pp 249-259.
- Bernard
Mayo, "Virtue and the Moral Life," pp 260- 263.
- William
Frankena, "A Critique of Virtue-Based Ethics," pp 264-270.
May 11 -
May 15 :
- John
Locke, from The Second Treatise of Government.
- Bernard
Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees.
- Adam
Smith, from The Wealth of Nations.
Notes:
- Page
numbers refer to the Pojman collection.
- If page
numbers are not listed, the reading is a handout/ download.
- Assignments
of particular sections of Eichenwald's book will be announced.
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