I continue my exploration of philosophical ethics with Crito. This dialogue is between Crito and Socrates while Socrates is in prison awaiting death. Crito has made arrangements to break his friend out but Socrates insists that he will stay and be put to death. I like this analysis and if you have an interest in philosophy, you may enjoy it as much as I do.
James Pilant
I will return to the tragedy in Arizona one more time. I was going to give the topic a miss today but I ran into this and was so impressed, I felt I had to make sure more people saw it.
James Pilant
Jack Marshal in his blog, Ethics Alarms has a fascinating story of a crusading attorney who taught two shady “entrepeneurs” a lesson. But better than that Jack Marshal has a paragraph that deserves attention and maybe preservation as an ethics quote –
One of the core principles of ethical conduct is that an individual who finds himself in a position to stop wrongdoing has an obligation to do so, regardless of whether he caused the problem or has an official or professional duty to discharge. Fix the problem. Ask questions, blow the whistle, confront the wrongdoer, pressure officials, call in authorities…whatever it takes. So many of the scandals and disasters we have witnessed in the past— the home mortgage meltdown, the Enron implosion, Abu Ghraib, Bernie Madoff’s scheme, baseball’s steroid scandal, the Catholic Church’s child molestation cover-up, and too many more to list—would have been ended far sooner if someone on the scene had followed through on this ethical imperative. We don’t know who those people who ducked their responsibilities are; all we know is that lives were ruined because they chose to be passive, and not to act.
Read the full article –
via Ethics Alarms
I also think that much of what Neitzsche said is silly. Staying in Focus is well written and fun. This essay discusses many ethical missteps in the restaurant industry. It is often funny certainly filled with good stories.
Of course, I am interested in business ethics and this gentleman has a lot to say that I like. So please give him some attention.
James Pilant
via Staying In Focus
This is a quote from an interview with Mary Gordon about her new book, Reading Jesus.
One of the things that I wanted to explore in this project is what kind of reading scripture demands. In one sense, it’s reading, just like reading the instructions for your DVD player, or King Lear, or a graphic novel. But that verb isn’t adequate for all these different experiences. This is a text that you may have thought—as I once did—was the Word of God, literally containing your salvation or damnation. It has a whole overlay of your personal history, your anguish, and the culture of the West. It has your coloring book and it has Bellini. It has the horrible ranting of anti-Semites and of people who hate the body, but it also has Oscar Romero and George Herbert. The Gospels carry so much in them, so the reading can never be simple. It is a uniquely complicated experience.
Simple reading is a simple matter of understanding a sentence and perhaps another sentence. Real reading means that you can understand the parts in terms of the whole and the whole in terms of the parts; that is, you can see how sentences fit into the total concept, i.e., how they develop and cast light on it. The New Testament is a very different document read as a whole. As a collection of sentences virtually any belief can be justified, the prosperity gospel being one bizarre example.
Ethics is almost always bound up with understanding. Poor readers will never have the insight and maturity of those that can understand difficult texts and ideas.
We are in danger of becoming a nation where reading becomes a curiosity. Oh, we’ll be able to read captions under photographs, see how much medicine to take, etc. But the ability to read in the light of our experience, to read in coordination with other reading, other sources, is an art that requires practice and application.
There is today a strange worship of the commonplace, of gut feelings and a casual disdain for the learned. It calls into question the continued development and survival of this civilization.
Of course, if this civilization is nothing more than an acquistive impulse tempered by occasional reservations, reading and thought are of no importance.
But I will continue to believe that there is a civilization here and that it is worth defending.
James Pilant
Nevertheless I like this one and she has a done a service by hitting the golden oldies in business lies. I teach college and am often surprised how few of my students understand the most basic lies, cons and fallacious offers in the business world.
Unfortunately this confusing Wall Street-speak could put you in in a fog when approaching financial transactions. And that can make you vulnerable to people who would like to trick you out of your money. When salesmen and con artists see that your normal radar for bad advice, toxic investments and outright scams is getting nothing but fog (the potential result of all the hot air on Wall Street), they ramp up clever lies to separate you from your cash.
I recommend you go to CBS and read the five lies. You might say something nice about Ms. Kristof while you are there.
James Pilant
James, I agree with your sentiments. The divide between rich and poor with a growing middle class is expanding rapidly. I wouldn’t classify all billionaires as greedy. The pursuit of self-interest is always a factor and often at the cost of others as too often occurs in corporations. There are, however, a few good people that either use their money to better society, improve our educational system, help those who can’t help themselves, and even fight world hunger and illiteracy. We know of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates in the business world who have started foundations for these purposes. They seem to be trying to do the right thing. The jury is still out on Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, who has pledged to donate a significant amount of his money. Oprah Winfrey comes to mind and her charitable efforts as well as using personal gravitas to improve conditions around the world. Perhaps we can include someone like Angelina Jolie who seems genuinely concerned about the unfortunate circumstances of way too many people in other countries. That said, you are absolutely right that the fabric of our nation has changed and not for the better. The middle class get squeezed more and more. The sad part is nothing has be done, even with the financial crisis, to address these issues and I fear nothing will be done because of the influence and desire of those with the billions to continue the trend and the willingness of our Congressional leaders, many of whom are already wealthy (or hope to be so after leaving office)to support the obsessively rich because they hope to join their ranks some day.
I recommend you add The Ethics Sage to your favorites.
James Pilant
Steven Mintz, the Ethics Sage, has a new post about the Facebook deal with Goldman Sachs. Any transaction with the name, Goldman Sachs, in it should raise legitimate concerns. Professor Mintz provides detail on what is wrong with the deal. I suggest you read the full post.
James Pilant
From the Steven Mintz post, Facebook — Goldman Sachs Deal –
I am quite dubious about the Facebook — Goldman Sachs transaction because we’ve been there before. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s we heard about company’s such as Lucent Technologies, Sunbeam, Qwest, WorldCom and, off course, Enron that all had one thing in common — they cooked the books and fooled investors into thinking they were doing a lot better than the true numbers indicated. I hope that’s not the case with the Facebook deal for the sake of the investors and our fragile economy. Otherwise, there may be a sequel to the movie, The Social Network — The Demise of the Social Network!
This is a comment from Andrew Gates who as always has some useful points.
James Pilant
Andrew Gates –
All I could think of while reading that article is “are these people serious?!”
I think the problem is that the accounting firm doing the study just assumed that many of these “burdens” were necessary for a four person family with a large income. Not having time to keep our houses immaculate is not just a burden for the upper class. I think thats a burden that families of every class (especially ones with children) face. The difference is that lower and middle class families FIND the time to keep their house in relatively livable condition.
Dry cleaning tab?! Are you serious? I guarantee you that our men and women in the armed services must keep their uniforms to a higher standard than corporate executives. How do they do this? They learn how to iron and starch a shirt after coming home from their watch. Something tells me that corporate executives probably don’t work as many hours either.
$4000 for kids activities? Ok, I understand that some childrens activities can be expensive. I am the oldest of 6 children. My father was able to allow all of us to play baseball, football, and/or soccer with our counties recreation department for just a few hundred dollars a season. I suppose the upper class children are too good to get their baseball uniform dirty with lowly middle class children?
Yeah, its SOOOOOO hard being them.
![What Am I Doing? [1.10]](https://patrickonofreblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/517px-portrait_of_friedrich_nietzsche.jpg?w=86&h=100)
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.