PHILOSOPHY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
The aim of this module is to understand some of the basic ethical concepts in professional
life. For whether we think so or not, business managers, civil servants, advertisers, sales
representatives and employers are all practical philosophers. They may not think explicitly in
terms of philosophical arguments and theories, but every strategic decision they make is
based on philosophical assumptions that can be articulated and assessed. This module
examines some of the central philosophical issues that arise in the course of professional life,
including truth; manipulation; trust; freedom; integrity; responsibility; and detachment.
No prior philosophical training is required to take this module. Each topic will be introduced
without theoretical prerequisites, and the discussion of each topic will be illustrated with
concrete examples from actual professions and real life.
Preliminary Reading:
 A. Marcoux, ‘Business Ethics’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008,
Available online: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-business/
 M. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: the Moral Limits of Markets, London: Penguin,
2012.
Lectures: The lectures for this module will be held in on Thursdays from 6-7pm in the
Spring Term. The lectures will take place in Room X. The lecturer is Prof. Hallvard
Lillehammer (h.lillehammer@bbk.ac.uk).
Seminars: The seminars for this module will be held on Thursdays from 7-8pm in the Spring
Term. They will be led by the lecturer and by Y and Z.
Readings: Every week there is one key reading that is the focus of the seminar discussion.
One of the purposes of the seminar is to help you to understand the reading, so do not worry
if you have not fully understood the reading in advance. Nevertheless, it is essential that you
attempt the seminar reading each week if you are to follow the lecture and to participate in
the seminar discussion. In addition, there is ‘additional reading’ listed that will deepen your
understanding and help you to get the most out of the module. You are especially advised to
cover the additional reading for those topics on which you are planning to write an essay.
Essays (BA/Level 6): This module is assessed by one essay of around 3,000 words (3200
maximum). It must be written in response to one of the set questions listed below, except
with permission from the module convenor. For details concerning submission of the essay,
including deadlines, see the BA Handbook.
Prior to this assessed essay, you may also write up to two essays during the course, taken
from the titles below, and receive feedback on them from your seminar leader. These can be
useful practice for your eventual assessed essay. You should submit the first such essay by
the first seminar after reading week, and the second by one week after the last seminar of
term. [Notes: 1) You are always welcome to submit an essay earlier than these dates; 2) the
seminar leader should not be expected to comment on the same essay more than once.]
Essay (MA/Level 7): This module is assessed by one essay of around 3,500 words (3700
maximum). It must be written in response to one of the set questions listed below, except
with permission from the module convenor. For details concerning submission of the essay,
including deadlines, see the MA Handbook.
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Moodle: Electronic copies of course materials are available through Moodle, at
http://moodle.bbk.ac.uk. You will need your ITS login name and password to enter.
Course content, readings and essay questions
WEEK 1: What is professional ethics? An introduction to ethics in professional life
Questions: 1) Does business ethics rest on a mistake? 2) To what extent does the ethics
of institutions depend on the ethics of their employees?
Essential Reading:
-J. R. Boatright, ‘Does Business Ethics Rest on a Mistake?’ Business Ethics Quarterly,
Vol. 9, No. 4, 1999, pp. 583-59. Available online: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3857936
Further Reading:
- J. Oakley and D. Cocking, Virtue Ethics and Professional Roles, Cambridge 2001,
Chapter 3: ‘A virtue ethics approach to professional roles’, pp. 74-94.
-M. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: the Moral Limits of Markets, London: Penguin,
2012, Chapter 3-4.
-R. H. Thaler & C. R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions about health, wealth and
happiness, Part II, ‘Money’, pp. 113-166.
WEEK 2: Who cares? The ethics of professional detachment
Questions: 3) To what extent, if any, must ethical professionals be ‘caring’
professionals? 4) To what extent does the ‘public’ morality of professionals depend on
their ‘private’ morality?
Essential Reading:
- F. B. Bird and J. A. Waters, ‘The Moral Muteness of Managers’, California
Management Review, vol. 32 (no. 1), pp. 73-88. 1989.
Further Reading:
- H. Lillehammer, ‘Minding Your Own Business? Understanding Indifference as a
Virtue’, Philosophical Perspectives 18 (2014), 111-126. Available online:
http://hallvardlillehammer.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/1/3/21136986/virtue14pp.pdf
- J. Oakley and D. Cocking, Virtue Ethics and Professional Roles, Cambridge 2001,
Chapter 6: ‘Professional Detachment in Health Care and Legal Practice’, pp. 137-171.
- G. Postema, ‘Moral responsibility in Professional Ethics’, New York University Law
Review 55, 1980, 63-89. Available from:
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gerald_Postema/publication/264839520_MORAL_
RESPONSIBILITY_IN_PROFESSIONAL_ETHICS_1/links/54df68ec0cf296663789e8c
3.pdf
WEEK 3: Ethics for adversaries: thinking ethically in a competitive environment
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Questions: 5) Is there a conflict between successful competition and ethical behaviour in
professional life? If so, how? If not, why not? 6) Are ethical values in business relative
to specific professional roles?
Essential Reading:
- A.I. Applbaum, Ethics for Adversaries: The Morality of Roles in Public and
Professional Life, Princeton 1999, Chapters 3-4; 6. [Seminar Reading, pp. 45-51; 61-75]
Further Reading:
-M. H. Freedman, ‘Professional Responsibility of the Criminal Defence Lawyer: the
Three Hardest Questions’, Michigan Law Review, vol. 64, 1965, pp. 1469-1484.
Available online:
http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=fac
ulty_scholarship&seiredir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.co.uk%2Fscholar%3Fhl%3Den%26q
%3Dmonroe%2Bfreedman%26btnG%3D%26as_sdt%3D1%252C5%26as_sdtp%3D#se
arch=%22monroe%20freedman%22
-B. Williams, ‘Politics and Moral Character’, in his Moral Luck, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1981, pp. 54-70.
-T. Nagel, ‘Ruthlessness in Public Life’ in his Mortal Questions, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1979, pp. 75-90.
WEEK 4: Respecting freedom: coercion, voluntariness and responsibility in professional
life
Questions: 7) In what sense, if any, do ethically acceptable market transactions depend
on respect for individual freedom? 8) What is voluntary consent? Why think it matters to
business affairs?
Essential Reading:
- S. Olsaretti, ‘The Moralized Defence of the Free Market: a Critique’, in her Liberty,
Desert and the Market, Cambridge 2004, pp. 109-136.
Further Reading:
- Gerald Dworkin, ‘Autonomy and Informed Consent’, in his The Theory and Practice of
Autonomy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 100-120.
-O. O’Neill, ‘Which are the offers you can’t refuse?’, in her Bounds of Justice,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 81-96.
David Zimmerman, ‘Coercive Wage Offers’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 10,
1981, pp. 121-145, Available online: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2264975
WEEK 5: Customers, clients and their desires: the ethics of advertising
Questions: 9) ‘One of the primary aims of business is meeting the needs of their
customers’. Discuss.10) What forms of advertising are compatible with respect for
individual autonomy?
Essential Reading:
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-R. Crisp, ‘Persuasive Advertising, Autonomy and the Creation of Desire’, Journal of
Business Ethics, vol. 6 (no. 5), pp. 413-418.
Further Reading:
-J.Christman, ‘Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy’, The Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy, 2009, Available online: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/autonomy-moral/
-G. Dworkin, ‘Behaviour Control and Design’, in his The Theory and Practice of
Autonomy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, pp. 150-160.
-R.H.Thaler & C.R. Sunstein, ‘Libertarian Paternalism’, The American Economic
Review, vol. 93, 2003, pp. 175-179. Available on JSTOR:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3132220
WEEK 6: Being Truthful: Truth, lies and bullshit in professional life
Questions: 11) Are lies a necessary part of successful management? If so, why? If not,
why not? 12) What is the value of truth and truthfulness in professional life? Explain
your answer with respect to one or two professions or parts of the economy.
Essential Reading:
- A. Carr, ‘Is Business Bluffing Ethical?’, Harvard Business Review vol. 46 (no. 1), pp,
143-53.
Further Reading:
- H. Frankfurt, ‘On Bullshit’, in his The Importance of What We Care About, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 117-33.
-L. Radoilska, ‘Truthfulness and Business’, Journal of Business Ethics 79, 2008, pp. 2128. Available on JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25075643
- J. Saul, ‘Just go ahead and lie’, Analysis 72, 2012, pp. 3-9. Available on
http://analysis.oxfordjournals.org/content/72/1/3.full and JSTOR:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41340787
WEEK 7: Being trustworthy: the values of trust in professional life
Questions: 13) What is the value trustworthiness in professional life? Explain your
answer with reference to the relationships between a) different institutions and b)
institutions and individual clients; 14) Tow what extent should international businesses
aim to cultivate trusting relationships with their partners?
Essential Reading:
-G. G. Brenkert, ‘Trust, Morality and International Business’, Business Ethics Quarterly,
vol. 8 (no. 2), pp. 293-317.
Further Reading:
-R. Hardin, ‘Conceptions and Explanations of Trust’, in K. Cook (ed.), Trust and
Society, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 3-39.
- O. O’Neill, Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002, Chapter 6.
- T. Simpson, ‘e-trust and Reputation’, Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 13, pp.
29-38, 2011.
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WEEK 8: Business and integrity: success, character and personal accountability
Questions: 15) In what sense, if any, is integrity a business asset? 16) Should individual
integrity be protected even if it conflicts with institutional aims?
Essential Reading:
- G. D. Goodstein, ‘Moral Compromise and Personal Integrity: Exploring the Ethical
Issues of Deciding Together in Organizations’, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 10, 2000,
pp. 805-819. Available via e-library.
Further Reading:
D. Koehn, ‘Integrity as a Business Asset’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 58, pp. 125136. 2005. Available via e-library.
G. Taylor, ‘Integrity’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume,
55, 143-159. Available on JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4106856
- G. Scherkoske, ‘Two Cheers for Integrity?’, in his Integrity and the Virtues of Reason:
leading a convincing life, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 1-32.
WEEK 9: Ethics and organizations: individual, collective and corporate agency
Questions: 17) In what sense, if any, can organisations be morally responsible? 18)
Should individuals and organizations be constrained by the same rights and duties?
Essential Reading:
- M. Velasquez, 'Why Corporations Are Not Morally Responsible for Anything They
Do', Business and Professional Ethics, vol. 2, pp. 1-18. 1983.
Further Reading:
- S. Wolf, ‘The Legal and Moral Responsibility of Organizations’, in J. R. Pennock & J.
W. Chapman (eds.), Criminal Justice, Nomos 27, New York: New York University
Press, 1985, pp. 267-86.
- D. F. Thompson, Political Ethics and Public Office, Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1987, Chapter 2.
- C. Chapple, The Moral Responsibilities of Companies, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2014, pp. 114-138; 184-200.
WEEK 10: The corporate citizen: social responsibility and business values
Questions: 19) What is meant by ‘ethical business’? Discuss in relation to one or more
specific organisations or parts of the economy. 20) In want sense, if any, is corporate
social responsibility good for business?
Essential Reading:
-M. Friedman, ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits’, New
York Times Magazine, 13 September 1970.
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Further Reading:
- G. Fooks, A. Gillmore, J. Collin, C. Holden, K, Lee, ‘The Limits of Corporate Social
Responsibility: Techniques of Neutralization, Stakeholder Management and Political
CSR’, Journal of Business Ethics 112, 2013, pp. 283-299. Available via Birkbeck elibrary.
- A. Kemper & R. L. Martin, ‘After the Fall: the global financial crisis as a test of
corporate social responsibility theories’, European Management Review, vol. 7, 2010,
pp. pp. 229-239. Available via Birkbeck e-library.
-T. Mulligan, ‘A Critique of Milton Friedman’s Essay ‘The Social Responsibility of
BusinessIs to Increase Its Profits’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 5 (no. 4), 1986, pp.
265-269. Available via Birkbeck e-library.
Essay questions
The Essay questions for formative and summative assessment may be picked from
questions 1)-20) listed under each topic above. Students writing two formative essays
should answer questions from the readings for two different weeks.
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