Business Ethics: PHIL 316 sec. 006
Instructor: Jonathan D. Trigg Ph.D.
Office: HLG 510
Office hours: MWF 10.00 – 12.00 am. TR 2.00 – 4.00 pm.
E-mail: jon.trigg@louisiana.edu
Class Time: MW 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Class Place: HLG 422
Assessment: Your final grade will be made up of the following components:
Mid-Term Examination 33.33%
Final Paper
33.33%
Final
Examination
33.33%
In the mid-term examination you will answer 10 short-answer
questions in 75 minutes, and in the final examination you will answer
ten short-answer questions in two hours. The term paper will be between
5 and 7 pages long (12 point, double spaced). I will provide you with a
list of titles for this paper, and plenty of advice on how to complete
it.
Grading System
• Remember that you are being graded for achievement, not effort.
• Grades range from A to F. A: 90-100; B: 80-89; C: 70-79; D: 60-69; F: 59 and below
•
An A is assigned to excellent work, B to better than average, C
to average and D to below average; F grades fail.
• No ‘extra credit’ will be given.
Attendance and Class Policies
Attendance
will be recorded and may be taken into account in assigning final
grades to borderline cases. Good reasons for absence from class include
illness (requiring medical attention) and involvement in significant
university activities. I will deduct 2.5 points (a quarter letter
grade) a day from unexcused late assignments. If you have a disability
and require assistance with fulfilling class assignments, don't
hesitate to notify the instructor and the Office for Services to
Students with Disabilities at 482-5252. Finally, be sure you are
familiar with all university policies described in the UL Lafayette
Undergraduate Bulletin.
Anybody caught plagiarizing will fail the
course, and may be reported to the University. It is incredibly easy to
identify plagiarised passages in your written work. You must include
full citations of any sources that you use – including page
numbers of books and URL’s for websites.
If you miss class,
for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to get class notes from
another student. Missed exams or other assignments can be made up only
if an appropriate excuse, e.g., illness requiring medical attention,
participation in certain official university events, etc., is provided.
If you miss an assignment due date, you must notify me within one week
of the due date in order to make up the assignment.
Emergency Evacuation Procedures
A
map of this floor is posted near the elevator marking the evacuation
route and the Designated Rescue Area. This is an area where emergency
service personnel will go first to look for individuals who need
assistance in exiting the building. Students who may need assistance
should identify themselves to the teaching faculty.
Main Texts
• Ethical Issues in Business – A Philosophical Approach (7th edition) Edited by Donaldson, Werhane and Cording (Prentice Hall: New Jersey) 2002.
You
should get the correct edition of this volume (from the university book
shop for example) since it contains a number of readings not included
in earlier editions.
Additional material will be made available in the reserve section of the library.
The list of readings given below is provisional – detailed instructions concerning reading will be given in class.
An excellent discussion of the difference between good and bad philosophy papers, including a sample of each, can be found at:
http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/rholton/write/writehome.html
Course Structure and Reading
Readings
listed here all come from Ethical Issues in Business, and are
identified by page number, title and name of author; case studies are
identified by title and page number. You need to read these pieces
before the relevant class – I highly recommend that you look at
them again after class. Philosophical writing is dense and demanding so
you should not expect to understand it perfectly straight away.
Introduction: Some Case Studies; What is ‘business ethics’?
Week
1: Case studies: H.B. Fuller in Honduras: Street Children and Substance
Abuse (p.20); Plasma International (p.140); The Oil Rig (p.192).
Initial discussion of the nature of business ethics.
Week
2: ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its
Profits’ Milton Friedman (p.33); ‘Stakeholder Theory of the
Modern Corporation’ R. Edward Freeman (p.38).
Week 3:
‘Is Business Bluffing Ethical?’ Albert Carr (p.106);
‘The Business of Ethics’ Norman C. Gillespie (p.112).
A brief introduction to moral philosophy (Most
readings in this section will come from James Rachels’ The
Elements of Moral Philosophy. I will make these available through the
reserve section in the University Library)
Week 4:
‘Introduction to Ethical Reasoning’ T. Donaldson and P.H.
Werhane (p. 1); The divine command theory (in The Elements of Moral
Philosophy); cultural relativism (‘The Challenge of Cultural
Relativism’ James Rachels (p.410)
Week 5: Egoism – ethical and psychological (in The Elements of Moral Philosophy).
Week 6: Utilitarianism; Kant and deontology (in The Elements of Moral Philosophy).
Week 7: Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics (in The Elements of Moral Philosophy) Mid-Term Examination
The philosophy of business: Capitalism, Profit, Property and Justice.
Week
8: Introduction (p.131). Case studies: Plasma International (again)
p.140; Dorrence Corporation Trade-Offs (p.142). ‘The
Justification of Private Property’ John Locke (p.150).
Week 9:
Adam Smith ‘Benefits of the Profit Motive’ (p.155);
‘Alienated Labour’ Karl Marx (p.159); ‘Wealth’
Andrew Carnegie (p.164)
Week 10: Case Study ‘The Oil
Rig’ (again). ‘Distributive Justice’ John Rawls
(p.198); ‘The Entitlement Theory’ Robert Nozick
Corporations, Persons and Morality
Week
11: Introduction p. 228; Case Study: Merck and Co., Inc. The Business
Enterprise Trust (p.238); ‘Does Business Ethics Make Economic
Sense’ Amartya Sen (p.244).
Week 12: ‘Can Socially
Responsible Firms Survive in a Competitive Environment?” Robert
Frank. ‘The Parable of the Sadhu’ Bowen McCoy (p.262) Term
paper due in on Wed.
Week 13: Case Study: The Aircraft Brake Scandal
(p.323); ‘Whistleblowing and Professional Responsibilities’
Sissela Bok (p.335); ‘Employment at Will, Employee Rights, and
Future Directions’ T.J. Radin and P. H. Werhane (p.343)
International Business
Week
14: Case Study: Levi Strauss & Co.: Global Sourcing (p. 432);
‘International Business Ethics and Incipient Capitalism: a double
standard?’ R.T. De George (p.458).
Marketing
Week
15: Case Study: Kate: Dot-Com CEO (p.500); ‘Persuasive
Advertising, Autonomy, and the Creation of Desire’ R. Crisp (p.
503).
Final Examination: HLG 422 PHIL 316 006
Thu May 11 10:15AM - 12:45P