Philosophy: Basic Questions
worksheet on The Corporation
1. Here’s Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (proposed 1866, ratified 1868):
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.”
What was the original purpose of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? How was it actually used in the
great majority of cases (beginning by 1877)?
2. What are publicly-traded corporations legally bound to do?
3. What is an “externality”? Why are corporations under pressure to externalize costs?
4. How does Michael Walker justify corporations (such as Nike) paying low wages to their employees in
developing countries?
5. What is “intergenerational tyranny”?
6. The producers of the film make a case that the typical modern corporation has six “personality”
characteristics:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
If corporations are legal persons, what personality type do they possess? Do you think this conclusion is fair?
1
7. What parallel does Noam Chomsky draw between the institution of slavery and the modern corporation?
8. How does Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (former Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell) compare himself to the Earth
First demonstrators who visited his home?
9. What is “terminator technology”, and why do seed producers make them?
10. What does Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface (the world’s largest carpet manufacturer) say was his
“epiphanal experience” after reading Paul Hawkins’ The Ecology of Commerce?
11. In the middle ages, who ultimately was regarded as owning the land? How did this change with the rise of
the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th Centuries?
12. How does Noam Chomsky define “privatization”? What are some advantages of public institutions?
13. What reasons does Michael Walker give for privatizing everything?
14. How does Lucy Hughes (Vice President of Initiative Media, the world’s leading market research
corporation) respond to the question about whether it’s ethical to manipulate children into nagging their parents
to buy them products they see advertised?
15. According to Noam Chomsky, how must corporations treat their target market? What does he mean by a
“philosophy of futility”?
2
16. Rather than making products, what does Naomi Klein say that successful corporations of the future will
make? How is branding “imperialist”?
[forward over “Triumph of the Shill” to “Advancing the Front”]
17. What is the significance of the Chakrabarty case before the U.S. Supreme Court (in 1980)?
18. How did the Monsanto Corporation prevent the investigative report about Posilac bovine growth hormone
from being aired on Fox news? What reason did the Appeals Court give for denying the reporters their whistleblower status in their lawsuit against Fox News?
19. How did the Bechtel Corporation gain control over all of Bolivia’s water?
3