Business Ethics

This course is designed to help you think clearly and deeply about something that will probably occupy much of your adult life: work. Ethics is about living well, and a large part of living well is working well—i.e., developing your skills and talents in way that is fulfilling (for you) and helpful (to others). Thus, the starting point for Business Ethics is personal. Only after a firm foundation—a philosophy of work—is in place can we start thinking fruitfully about broader and more difficult issues: corporate social responsibility, downsizing, advertising, sweatshop labor, distributive justice, insider trading, and whistle-blowing (among others). And since working well in the 21st century requires coming to terms with the breakneck pace of technological advancement in an increasingly globalized business world, we’ll discuss those issues too. You will be challenged to become a responsible moral deliberator and a person of integrity in the face of the difficult ethical decisions that you’ll face in your future career.