Course
Syllabus
Philosophy
260 - Business Ethics
Spring
2013
Instructor: Tim Linnemann (office hours: Tuesday/Thursday
11:30-1:30 B100A)
206-919-6934
Text: All readings will be available
electronically. I will be emailing attachments with the reading selections
which you can then print at your discretion.
Course
Description: Business
Ethics is a part of the field of moral philosophy known as Applied Ethics – a
field which also is home to topics such as Biomedical Ethics, Engineering
Ethics, Environmental Ethics, to name a few. Applied Ethics focuses on the
deliberations surrounding specific behavior as opposed to creating a general
moral theory – in the case of Business Ethics the focus is on commercial
activity. It goes without saying that these activities and the ways in which they
are conducted can have huge ethical ramifications, but we won’t confine
ourselves to the scandals alone. Business and the way it is conducted has the
potential to promote much good or to engender much evil, but disputes over what
actually is good and evil notwithstanding, it also has the power to radically
affect the shape of human life.
Topics in Business Ethics are wide
ranging. The ethical questions facing employees, employers, and corporations
themselves are very different in their scope, in the resources required to
answer them, and in the diverse facets of human life that they concern. We will
be traveling from the very personal to the global and back many times by the
end of the quarter. For this reason, completion of this course should also
provide you with a decent introduction to the philosophical methods used for
addressing moral and ethical questions in general.
Objectives &
Outcomes: The
no. 1 goal for this class is to develop your access, awareness, and ability to
engage with the ethical dimensions to be encountered in the business world.
This class is not here to inform you what “the rules” are, or what choices you
should make in certain situations. The design of this course will require you
to step into defining and defending answers to questions over which there is
extensive disagreement. But you will not be left only to your own devices.
We’ll be getting acquainted with a host of theories and concepts that will help
us frame these debates and provide you with resources you’ll be able to apply
to whatever unique ethical dilemmas that life outside of the classroom throws
at you. I hope this class will empower you to be able to take up a sincere
exploration and evaluation of the ethical considerations that permeate business
– with the additional bonus of perhaps also empowering you to be a force for
making a more ethical world! (I won’t be grading you on that)
Grading: Class Attendance/Participation 25%*
Journal
Responses 25%
Presentation 13%
Research
Paper 23%
Response
Paper 13%
Journals:
Every
time we have a new reading assigned for a class day there will be a short
response paper due. This paper needs to be 1-2 pages typed or 2-3 pages if
handwritten. In each journal I will be looking to see two things represented. I
want you to present some idea or argument from the reading and then to
critically evaluate it. These assignments have a three-fold purpose: First,
they are a way of encouraging you to have completed the readings prior to class.
Second, they are good practice at articulating philosophical ideas on paper.
There is nothing I have discovered that develops one’s philosophical abilities
faster than just writing. Third, these journals will hopefully help stimulate
class discussion as you will have thought about what you think about the
readings prior to coming to class. Thus, you’ll already have things prepared
that you want to talk about and are ready to share.
Papers:
You will have two papers assigned in the
course of the quarter. The first will be a 1500 word min paper where I’ll have
you research some contemporary incident in the business world that has an
ethical dimension to it. It is crucial that your topic have room for legitimate
rational disagreement. The paper will require you to frame the debate, take a
stance, and defend it. I’ll be providing much more guidance as we gear up for
this assignment.
The
second paper will see you giving a critical response to a paper written by one
of your classmates for the first assignment. This paper has only a 500 word
min, so it won’t be worth as much of your final grade. The exchanges will be
anonymous.
Presentations: During the course of
the quarter you will be required to perform one short class presentation. After
we get through the first couple weeks of introductory material I’ll be having
you sign up for readings. In the presentation you will be giving a critical (not
necessarily negative!) evaluation of the reading – present a response and
defend it. These assignments are functionally very similar to the journals, but
done through a different modality. You will not be required to turn in journals
for readings in which you perform presentations.
Class
Attendance: I
am making attendance and participation a fourth of the final grade to emphasize
the importance of philosophic engagement in its social dimension. Most of the
issues we will be discussing in Business Ethics are of a broadly social concern
– whether this is expressed in federal or state laws or happens behind
board-room doors, the implications of these debates have consequences for many
people, and the way in which we justify these practices as much concerns each
other as ourselves. I will be striving to create a classroom atmosphere where these
debates can be pursued productively and comfortably, but I will need your help
in realizing this project. Three things will be of particular advantage: mutual
respect as a standard for discussion, careful listening, and critical
engagement.
For our purposes,
respect must not be a conclusion, but rather a premise. Disrespectful
engagement is unprofessional and unphilosophical
regardless of whether it is offensive. As an example, to think a certain line
of thinking is indicative of a lack of intelligence does nothing to provide a
reasonable argument for why we should consider such reasoning philosophically
problematic. The disrespectful attitude does nothing to add to the debate
(whatever else it does contribute).
Careful
listening and critical engagement are very closely connected. To properly
respond to an idea, one must first understand it as thoroughly as possible. But
just understanding the point of someone’s idea is also not enough – we must
analyze its virtues and deficiencies. Our discussions will always be oriented
to gauging the strength of proposed resolutions to ethical conundrums, and in
as much as we will contribute ideas of our own, we will be assessing how well
our attempts fare as well. When engaging in this way with one another an open audience
is as crucial as a critically invested audience – respect helps prepare us for
both.
Finally, (back by popular demand!) anyone who misses more
than 4 sessions will automatically fail the course. This is not negotiable, so
please respect it!
Student academic
conduct: The
principle of academic honesty underlies all that we do and applies to all
courses at Bellevue College. One kind of academic dishonesty is
plagiarism, which may take many forms, including, but not limited to, using a
paper written by someone else, using printed sources word-for-word without
proper documentation, and paraphrasing or summarizing the ideas of others
without acknowledging the source. Plagiarism can also occur when
non-written ideas are taken without documentation--using someone else's design
or performance idea, for example. In short, plagiarism is passing off
someone else's ideas, words, or images as your own; it amounts to intellectual
theft--whether or not it was your intention to steal. Bellevue College
instructors have access to commercial plagiarism detection software, so please
be advised that any work you submit may be tested for plagiarism.
Participating
in academic dishonesty in any way, including writing a paper or taking a test
for someone else, may result in severe penalties. Dishonestly produced
papers automatically receive a grade of "F" without the possibility
of make-up. The Dean of Student Services will also be notified of such
conduct, and repetition of the behavior will result in progressively more
serious disciplinary action (for example, an instructor may recommend that the
student fail the course for a second offense or even that a student be expelled
for a serious offense, such as stealing an exam).
Grades
lowered for plagiarism or other forms of dishonesty may be appealed through the
regular channels, and any further disciplinary action taken by the Dean may
also be appealed through existing processes.
Information
about Bellevue College's copyright guidelines can be found at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/links/copyright.html
Disclaimer:
I
reserve the right to make any changes to the course (content, grading, etc.).
Further, I reserve the right to establish procedures for grading of students in
exceptional cases. All and any modifications to this syllabus will be in
accordance with the rules and regulations of Bellevue College. This syllabus
does not constitute a contract between any combination of the student, the
professor, or Bellevue College.
Brief
List of Course Topics
Boat-loads of Introductory Material
Code of
Intellectual Conduct; Moral Disagreement; Moral Relativism; Egoism;
Meta-theory;
The “Classical” Ethical Theories
Kantian Deontology, Utilitarianism, Virtue
Ethics, Social Contract Theories, Ethics of Care
Fiduciary Duties
Whistle-blowing
Affirmative Action
International Business
Social & Economic Justice
Success & the American Dream