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Welcome to OUR COURSE webpage! - Course Syllabus

                                                         Email: jmarsh25@uwo.ca


WRITING TIPS TEACHING AWARDS COURSE 
 

   King's University, UWO

Course Description


Business Ethics in a Global Context   - Winter 2011

Philosophy 2075: Business Ethics  

The context of business activity is increasingly becoming global. Large corporations, and in some cases even medium-sized companies, no longer operate within the confines of a single nation state. This has given rise to ethical problems and challenges outside of the scope of traditional business ethics. The central problem facing businesses in a global context is that of conflicting ethical norms: How does a company determine its social responsibilities, how does it decide what conduct is right, in a world in which nations, customs and laws differ on matters of right and wrong? Should a company abide by the norms of the host country, even when such norms appear substandard and morally unacceptable from the perspective of the home country? Or should a company uphold the norms of its home country? Should there be (and are there) international norms by which companies must abide? Or should companies simply follow those norms most conducive to making a profit? In the first part of this course we will examine these sorts of questions. Following this, we will concentrate on some specific issues, including third world sweatshops and poverty, the practice of bribery, the question of the environment, and the ethics of globalization. 

Our aim throughout this course will be to foster a better and more critical understanding of ethical, corporate decision-making in a global context. 

Text

Course package from Imprint

Requirements:

In addition to keeping up with class readings and participating in class discussions, students will be expected to fulfill the following course requirements:

Midterm Exam 30%
Paper 30%
Final Exam 40%

Policy

The Department of Philosophy Policies which govern the conduct, standards, and expectations is available at http://uwo.ca/philosophy/undergraduate/proceduresappeals.html It is your responsibility to understand the policies set out by the Senate and the Department of Philosophy.


NOTE: The first ASN was due on the 8th, but the new due date is the 15th. 


Tentative Schedule (subject to change with sufficient prior notice)

Week

Readings

Date

Page

Due

Week 1

Ethical Relativism and its problems

Introductory

General Ethics Intro

Cultural vs. Moral Relativism

Jan 9

______

Jan 11




 

Week 2

Global Corporation and Social Responsibility 

UN declaration of Rights &  Valesquez 'International Business, Morality, and the Common Good.


Falkenberg 'When in Rome...Moral Maturity'

Jan 16



 

Jan  18


 

Week 3

Cond'

Thomas Donaldson, “Rights in the Global Marketplace”   

Thomas Donaldson, “Multinational Decision Making: Reconciling International Values”

 

Jan 23




Jan 25


 

Week 4

Cont'd

 Denis Arnold, “Libertarian Theories of the Corporation and Global Capitalism”

 

Richard DeGeorge, “Multinationals and Less Developed Countries: Seven Guidelines

Jan 30



 

Feb 1


 

Week 5

Cont'd

Onora O'Neil 'Agents of Justice'


Nien-he-Hsieh, “Does Business Have a Responsibility to Promote Just Institutions?”


Feb 6


Feb 8




Week 6

Sweatshops and International Poverty

 Pietra Rivoli, “Labor Standards in the Global Economy”


Ian Maitland 'Great Non-Debate Over International Sweatshops'

Feb 13

 


Feb 15

Midterm Due

Week 7


READING WEEK  (20-24)







Week 8

Denis Arnold, “Philosophical Foundations: Moral Reasoning, Human Rights and Global Labor Practices


'Marion Young 'Responsibility and Global Justice.'

Feb 27




Feb 29


 

Week 9

Con'td 

John Kelly 'Solidarity and Subsidiarity' 

Peter Singer 'One Atmosphere' 

March 5



March 7


 

Week 10

Environment & Sustainability

9. Norman Bowie, “Morality, Money and Motor Cars”

No Reading

March 12



March 14


 

Week 11

10. Joseph DesJardins, “Sustainability: Business’s New Environmental Obligations” 


Denis Arnold, “Business Ethics and Global Climate Change”

March 19

 



March 21



 

Week 12

Environment

Bribery 

Deborah Poff, “The Business Ethics Case for Sustainability”


Dunfee and Donaldson 'Untagling the Corruption Knot: Global Bribery Viewed through the lens of Integrative Social Contract Theory.

March 26




March 28



Week 13

Bribery/Poverty

Lane and Simpson, 'Bribery in International Business: Whose Problem Is it?


Peter Singer 'Famine, affluence and morality

 

 

April 2

 

 


April 4


Paper Due


Week 14

Thomas Pogge, 'Eradicating Systematic Poverty'

Review

April 9

April 11

 

 

  

 

 


Philosophy 2077G: Gender and Sexuality (Winter Term) 

                                                                   

This course will explore the concepts of gender and sexuality from historical, philosophical and scientific perspectives, addressing topics such the role of disgust in moral judgement, sexual desire, prostitution, bestiality, sexual orientation, gender identification and on why people can't stop being jealous. We will conclude with a section on the family, particularly on the ethics of parenting and procreation, that is informed by our earlier discussion. The aim of the course is to critically examine both the descriptive and normative claims made about human sexuality and gender.

Class: M 6-9 pm, UCC-66, Office Hours: SH2150, M 1:30-2:30 or by appointment

Text

Class schedule with links to class readings coming soon:

Requirements:

Essay: (40 %)

Final Exam: (45%) 

Participation – attendance, discussion, possible short group presentation (15%) 

______________________________________________________________

Final Essay

Due Dates: For the final paper you can hand in March 5th (if you want substantial,

typed comments) or April 2nd if you want fewer comments.

Late Policy: Late papers may be docked up to 5 percent per day.

________________________________________________________________

Goals:

This course has two main goals. The first goal is to give students a more informed understanding of two intellectually fascinating and morally important topics -- namely, sexuality and gender -- by seeing how these concepts have been thought about over the ages. The second goal is to sharpen the philosophical and communication skills of students, and particularly their ability to argue.

Audit:

Students wishing to audit the course should consult with the instructor prior to or during the first week of classes. 

Policy

The Department of Philosophy Policies which govern the conduct, standards, and expectations is available at http://uwo.ca/philosophy/undergraduate/proceduresappeals.html It is your responsibility to understand the policies set out by the Senate and the Department of Philosophy.


Note: Syllabus subject to change given sufficient prior notice





























   King's University, UWO

Business Ethics - Phil 2074F 


It is sometimes said that the phrase 'business ethics' is a contradiction in terms. In this course we will attempt to dispel this popular conception. By working our way through many of the moral issues to which the practice of business gives rise, we will show that the interests of business people and moral philosophers often converge. Topics listed below.


Text

 Business in Ethical Focus, Eds. Fritz Allhoff, Arnold Vaidya,

Recommended:

Ethical Theory and Business, Eighth Edition, Tom L. Beauchamp, Norman E.Bowie and Denis Arnold editors, Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2008

Requirements:

In addition to class readings and participation through in class discussion, students will be expected to fulfil the following course requirements:

Paper 1: 30%, Paper 2: 30 %, Final Exam: 40%                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                              

Week

Readings

Date

Page

Due

Week 0

Introductory

Amartya Sen, “Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense?”

Sept 12

______

Sept 14



20-28

 

Week 1

What is the Nature of Moral Reasoning?

David Meeler, “Utilitarianism” 

Heather Salazar, “Kantian Business Ethics”


Sept. 19

53-60

 

Sept. 21

29-34

 

Week 2

Do Corporations have Social Responsibilities?

Milton Friedman, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profit”

Edward Freeman, “A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation”

Sept. 26

65-68



Sept. 28

69-78

 

Week 3

Cont'd

 George Brenkert, “Private Corporations and public Welfare”

Joseph Heath, “Business Ethics Without Stakeholders”


Oct. 3

99-109

 

Oct. 5

110-126

 

Week 4

What obligations do multinational corporations have when doing business in a global context


Thanks Giving


'



Oct 10


Oct. 12



181-189


1

 


Midterm Essay Due(see turnitin for ASN and instructions)

 

 

Week 5


Political Dimensions:What constitutes a just distribution of wealth?

Thomas Hobbes, “Excerpts from the Leviathan

John Locke, Excerpts from The Second Treatise of Government”

Adam Smith, Excerpts fromAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” 

Karl Marx, Estranged Labour”

Oct. 17

467-482





Oct. 19

483-497


Week 6

Cont'd

John Rawls, “An Egalitarian Theory of Justice”

Robert Nozick, “The Entitlement Theory” 

Oct 24

498-512



Oct 26

513-532

 

Week 7

What rights and obligations do employees have in the workplace?

 

 Patricia Werhane and Tara Radin, “Employment at Will and Due Process”

Richard Epstein, “In Defense of the Contract at Will”

Oct 31

255-258



Nov 2

259-266 

 

Week 8

Is affirmative action morally permissible? 

Edwin Hettinger, “What Is Wrong with Reverse Discrimination”

Louis Pojman, “The Moral Status of Affirmative Action” 

Nov. 7  

326-336



Nov. 9

337-355

 

Week 9

Does advertising violate out autonomy?

Roger Crisp, “Persuasive Advertising, Autonomy and the Creation of Desire”

Robert Arrington, “Advertising and Behavior Control”

 

Nov. 14

 599-605



Nov. 16



 

Week 10

Targeting Children and Bluffing?

Lynn Sharp Payne, “Children as Consumers: An Ethical Evaluation of Children’s Television Advertising”  

Albert Car 'Is Business Bluffing Ethical ?

Nov. 21

584-591



Nov 23

58


Week 11

Truth & Deception in Advertising

Tibor Machan, “Advertising: The Whole Truth or Only Some of the Truth”

John Waide, “The Making of Self and World of Advertising”


 

 

Nov 28


Nov 30

400-408


409-431



Essay due

Week 12 

Ian Maitland 'Great Debate Over Sweatshops'


Review

Dec 5


Dec 7

154-169




This syllabus is subject to change.




 

 

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  Copyright © 2009 JASON MARSH