Final Exam

The final exam is at 4:50 p.m. on Monday, December 15th. It's in our normal classroom.

Extra Credit: Mom's Clippings

Since I started teaching business ethics, my mom has sent me a bunch of articles that she thinks would be helpful for the class. So I thought I'd use her gifts to create an optional extra credit assignment, due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, December 10th.

Below are links to these articles. (As you can see, she reads a lot of Newsweek.) The assignment is to write a short (about one-page) response to one of these articles. The response should include the following:

• A brief summary of the article (no more than a paragraph).
  
• An explanation of your opinion regarding the ethical issue the article brings up.
• A defense of your opinion. Support your opinion with good reasons!
  

The response doesn't have to be typed. You won't be graded on your opinion. You'll be graded on how well you DEFEND your opinion. This assignment is worth up to 25 points.

Mom's Clippings
-How Much Privacy Do You Have at Work? (Newsweek)
-Humane Fast Food? (Newsweek)
-Salmon Fishing Crash (Newsweek)
-The Business Behind Niagara Falls (Newsweek)
-The Financial Crisis Disproves Libertarianism (Slate)
-The Invisible Hand Still Works (Newsweek)
-David Foster Wallace: Consider the Lobster (Gourmet)
-Nudge: Government Paternalism (Chronicle of Higher Education)
-You Don't Deserve Your Salary (San Francisco Chronicle)
-How Obvious Was Enron? (New Yorker)
-Free Market for Organ Donations? (New York Times Magazine)
-Company Rewards Workers... with Its Profit! (MSNBC)

Paper Guidelines

Due Date: The beginning of class on Monday, December 15th, 2008

Worth: 15% of your overall grade

Logistics: Write an argumentative essay on one of the topics below. Papers must be typed, and must be between 600-1200 words long. Provide a word count on the first page of the paper. (Most programs like Microsoft Word & WordPerfect have automatic word counts.)

Assignment: Explain and evaluate a pair of articles from our textbook that we do not go over in class.

• First, briefly explain each main argument in the two articles you read. (Choose pairs from those listed below.)
• Then, evaluate each argument. Are the premises true, false, or questionable? Is the structure good or bad? Consider criticisms to each argument, along with responses to these criticisms.
• Finally, explain and defend your opinion on the issue. Which side—if either—do you think is correct? Why? Be sure to defend each of your opinion with reasons.
  

Topics (readings and page numbers from our textbook)
1. Can restructuring a corporation’s rules make a moral difference?
-Josef Wieland (25-37) and Ian Maitland (38-53).

2. Is it a mistake to urge corporate managers to be moral?
-John Boatright (74-81) and Jack Guynn (82-90)

2. Is privatizing Social Security good business?
-David Altig & Jagadeesh Gokhale (94-112) and Thomas Bethell (113-119)

3. Should the states regulate appropriate business behavior?
-Eliot Spitzer (122-131) and Alan Yuspeh (132-142)

4. Is “employment-at-will” good social policy?
-Richard Epstein (221-226) and John McCall (227-244)

5. Is direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals bad for our health?
-Sidney Wolfe (281-285) and Alan Holmer (286-290)

6. Should we require labeling for genetically modified food?
-Philip Bereano (322-328) and Joseph Levitt (329-338)

7. Are multinational corporations free from moral obligation?
-Manuel Velasquez (342-347) and John Fleming (348-351)

8. Should patenting life be forbidden?
-Jeremy Rifken (354-359) and William Domnarski (360-364)

9. Do environmental restrictions violate basic economic freedoms?
-John Shanahan (368-377) and Paul Ehrlich & Anne Ehrlich (378-386)

10. Is bottling water a good solution to problems of water purity and availability?
-Julie Stauffer (389-392) and Brian Howard (393-405)

11. Should the world continue to rely on oil as a major source of energy?
-Red Cavaney (408-411) and Howard Kunstler (412-417)

Consensus Session Guidelines

Most Wednesdays we’ll be holding a consensus session on the current issue we’ll be discussing. Groups of about 4 students will be responsible for leading these consensus sessions.

Your group’s first job is to understand and evaluate the arguments contained in the readings for your issue. (You can find which group you're in here, and find which articles your group is assigned to on the schedule here.)

Then you should reach a group-wide consensus as to whether each argument is good or bad. During your consensus session, your group’s job is to present your findings regarding the arguments to the rest of the class, and lead a class-wide consensus session on each argument.

When preparing, play the back & forth game. That is, consider as many responses to the argument and your criticisms of it as you can think of. Is the argument misguided? Mistaken? Can you revise the argument to overcome the criticisms you come up with?

NOTE: It doesn’t matter which side you end up on! The goal isn’t to say what’s wrong about the argument. The goal is to figure out whether it’s good or bad.

When you lead the consensus session, follow the following steps:

Consensus Session Format
1. Explain the main point of the reading.

2. Explain the author’s argument in support of this main point.

3. Say whether you think the argument is good or bad.

4. Explain how you came to the conclusion that the argument is good/bad. Discuss the back & forth process you went through to come to your conclusion.

5. Hold a small question and answer round to explain and clarify the argument and your evaluation of it.

6. Run a consensus session (a thumbs up or down vote) with the rest of class.

7. Go back & forth with every dissenter until a consensus is reached (or class ends).

Quiz Me Once

The quiz will be held at the beginning of class on Monday, September 29th. You will have about 25 minutes to take it. There will be a section on evaluating arguments, and 4 short answer questions on the topic of whether moral claims are facts or opinions (the ethical relativism and Thomas Nagel readings). The quiz is worth 10% of your overall grade.

Feel free to insult me in the comments for putting you through the terrible ordeal of taking a quiz.