This is just delicious fun. This is an intriguing, sometimes funny, brief introduction of Socrates.
James Pilant
Author: southwerk
I am a 53 year old teacher. I have double major in Speech and Criminal Justice resulting in a Bachelor's degree from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and a law degree.
Google Investigated
The BBC reports that a European Investigation will be launched over complaints about Google.
EU launches antitrust probe into alleged Google abuses
The European Commission has launched an investigation into Google after other search engines complained that the firm had abused its dominant position.
The EC will examine whether the world’s largest search engine penalised competing services in its results.
The probe follows complaints by firms including price comparison site Foundem and legal search engine ejustice.fr.
What we are talking about here is search results. You enter a search on Google and ten results come up on the first page. There are often thousands and, on occasion, millions of hits. The order of these hits is vital to web site success. If you are selling something, for instance, like coffee and your search result puts you at 213, you’re not going to sell very much coffee.
Google’s competitors are alleging that the company manipulates its search results to make competitors, well, less competitive. They allege that their place in the hierarchy, say fifteenth in a search, would be seventh if the “real” results were posted.
This is the kind of problem you can expect with a company that controls a very large part of the market and has components that compete with other companies that use the Internet.
James Pilant
It’s All Bad… (via The Truth About PR…if Any?)
I really enjoyed the author’s take on the PR industry. At this point, I wanted to quote from the article but don’t let me spoil. Enjoy!
James Pilant
The Examined Life – Martha Nussbaum
In this brief (7:54) video, Ms. Nussbaum explains her view of the idea of the social contract and, of course, the examined life.
The social contract is a vital concept in business ethics and ethics in general. The theory underlies much of our modern political thought but the business implications are staggering.
So, currently I’m working on this concept. Journey along with me if you like. It’s good to have intellectual company.
James Pilant
Aristotle For FUN!
If you have been to my blog for the last few days, you will find that I am investigating the beginnings of ethics. You can blame this on Chris MacDonald, who runs an excellent web site called Business Ethics Blog. I like his ethical analysis of various societal ethical problems (the Gulf Oil spill, etc.) and feel that my analysis is more plebian(a kind way of saying – not as good). So, I am going to study ethics in more detail and with more care. I’ve had classes and I have actually read a good number of the ethical philosophers. Unfortunately I was neither looking for the philosophers’ perceptions of the business world or how to analyze using their rules. I’ve got a general idea about the rules, but that is not enough, so I am working on the subject.
I’ve been listening to lectures on the internet from You Tube on this subject carefully skipping anything from the Hoover Institute or the National Review.
Sometimes when you are browsing on the web, you are incredibly lucky and find something wonderful.
I did. I found a lecture on Aristotle by a fellow named Mark Steel. Have you ever wanted to attend a serious course taught by a stand up comedian? Well, this is it. You get laughs and a lot of fascinating information. Further, I liked his analysis of the Aristotle’s teachings.
So, if you want a good laugh, a good time and some knowledge of classical philosophy. This is where to go!
James Pilant
P.S. I’ve posted the first one of three ten minute sections. The second two are on the right side of the page when you bring up the first one. I’d put them all up but my WordPress account is not putting them up the way I want.
By the way, if you think I intend to get good with the purpose of out pacing Chris MacDonald, you are entirely mistaken. On an academic plane, he is better than me. I really occupy a different niche in the business ethics blogging. On academic matters, I learn from him.
Leslie Nielsen – Rest In Peace
Nathan Heller writing for Slate eulogizes the comic actor, Leslie Nielsen. Here’s a sample from what he wrote.
Nielsen, by then a veteran of the very genre films the Zuckers were lampooning, was an ideal conduit for this sort of parody. Retaining a ’60s-TV-style polish and white-bread masculinity, he was both what the directors once called “oblivious to the comedy” and a key part of its aesthetic. And unlike many B actors who tried to leap the chasm from bad drama to good comedy, Nielsen nailed the landing. If the success of Airplane! redounds mostly to the movie’s writing and directing, the humor in The Naked Gun, its first sequel, and Police Squad (the early-’80s TV show that served as a testing ground for this material) rested largely on Nielsen’s shoulders. The films’ extended parody of noir procedurals depended on his wizened, faux-debonair polish and inveterate lack of self-awareness—in short, his ability to channel a screen ethos from the time of Cary Grant and Cavett.
I have already written about my regret at Nielsen’s passing. I always felt that he was a gentleman who I would have loved to chat with.
But I have an ulterior motive. As an “older” American, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing films like “Airplane,” when they came out. They were raw and exciting and I remember them with great pleasure. I want to recommend to “younger” Americans (pretty much, all of you) to take a look at Nielsen’s work, his legacy and profit by the work of a comic genius.
James Pilant
Business Ethics Question (via Jennifer’s Road To Riches)
This is an opinion of one of fellow bloggers. I liked what she had to say. I hope you do too.
James Pilant
Aristotle – A Primer
Aristotle is good place to begin the study of ethics. This is a good ten minute introduction to the man. The philosophy will take a lot more time and a lot more thought. But get used to the gentleman and his ideas, and with that basis – with that preparation, you will be more likely to move forward.
Martha Nussbaum is an expert on Aristotle and I felt her comments were clear and easily understood.
One of the things I would like to convey to my reader is the tremendous utility of You Tube and similar sites. You have the opportunity to learn almost anything on line that is within the general idea of learning in this civilization (and some that is not). I don’t think the implications of this are fully realized. One of my online associates traveled all over the world teaching himself in the didactic manner (self education). While we would miss out on seeing the world, we can pursue such a didactic path without having to go anywhere at all. We can self educate very easily, more thoroughly and at a higher quality than any previous generation.
Warning! And this is a major concern. Not all videos or web sites are created equal. There is enough nonsense, lies and wickedness to destroy your reason and thinking ability many times over. This is very sad. What it means for the individual learner is that there is an additional task, separating the wheat from the chaff: discovering what is valuable in teaching and what is not.
Nevertheless, bearing that warning in mind, the opportunities for self education are available in abundance. I would plead with you to take advantage of that opportunity.
James Pilant
British Call For Executive Bonus Regulation
British Business Secretary Vince Cable calls for stiff bonus regulations.
Mr Cable said disclosure was vital.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the potential scale of 2010 bank bonuses remained “of considerable concern to the government”.
He added: “I’ve launched a consultation in my own department on corporate governance that takes in issues of remuneration and disclosure, and it may well be that that’s a better way of tackling it.
“I wouldn’t just cover banks, but highly paid executives in general. But we have to have a system whereby executive pay is available to shareholders so they can make proper decisions from it.”
Isn’t this something we should be talking about? Currently, business bonuses are at all time highs while the middle class barely hang on. Why don’t we talk about austerity for someone who isn’t a homeowner or a worker?
All over the United States, salaries have been stagnant for decades or even reduced. Some fields have diminished in size or virtually ceased to exist. Why should business bonuses be immune for the same kinds of cuts?
From further down in the article –
Mr Cable said he was “not persuaded” that banks realised they needed to limit bonuses, saying excessive remuneration in the sector remained a “major irritant”.
He added that if the banks gave out substantial bonuses at a time when the wider population faces the impact of austerity measures, it would be a “major provocation”, and that the government had the power of raising taxation to deal with the matter.
We’re not even having a discussion about this. Why is it always the middle class that gets hit? Why do they talk about Social Security and Medicare when there is so much money among so few who accomplish so little? How is it that Americans who paid into Social Security their entire working lives can be referred to as the “Greediest” generation as if they were two bit thieves?
James Pilant
How to stay safe while shopping online (via Axxera Inc.)
I read through Axxera’s advice on avoiding online scams and liked it. Please click on the link below if you find this an important topic and take the opportunity to learn more.
James Pilant
via Axxera Inc.
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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