Teaching a class on ethics issues (international)

[Consul]

Well, it's my sister, not me, teaching the ethics class. She asked me to hit the web and see if I could find some news stories about ethics issues on the world stage at the moment. She's already dealt with domestic issues, and was wondering if anyone knows of any interesting situations happening internationally that would be good for class discussions. Apparently, class participation has been a difficult problem this semester. Links to news stories would be great.

I realize this is a very vague question, but let's face it: ethics is a very vague field.

Thank you for your help.

 

[SSLtech]

After drafting a will for an elderly client, the lawyer announced a fee of $100.

The client gave the lawyer a $100 bill.

After the client left, the lawyer saw that the client had in fact paid $200, as two of the client's $100 bills managed to stick together.

Looking at the extra $100 bill, the obvious ethical question arose in the lawyer's mind: "Do I tell my partner?"

 

[bcarso]

OK Keith you've moved this into an attorney joke thread:

So the Devil appears in a puff of pink smoke before the young attorney: "I have a little proposition for you".

Attorney: OK, let's hear it.

Devil: I'll guarantee that you have an incredibly successful pratice. You will win all your cases, your partners will love you, your clients will respect you, and you will make a huge fortune. All I ask is that your parents, your children, and your childrens' children, will perish and suffer agonizingly in the hellfires of damnation for eternity.

Attorney: So....what's the catch??

 

[sahib]

By discussing it here may be we can develop some material for your sister. But as you also indicated, ethics is a pretty difficult area to define. It takes its root from morality. It is a moral value. But then the moral values also change. So we will be going round a circle but let's have a go at it.

However, I have experienced a very good example of it today. I made a pricing inquiry for some instrument casing with a company called Boss. The person was very pleasant and she said she would come back to me with a price. And she did. She told me that the units would cost £67 each excluding shipping and it would take two weeks for the delivery. However, she continued that Farnell already had them in stock and they were selling them for £51 for the quantity that I was looking for. Now, I was looking for 10 units.

Did they lose the business? No. Because they already sold their product and made their profit, much less then what they could have made but still profit. But she behaved ethically. Saved me £160 and did not cut Farnell's business. Ethical.

 

[JohnRoberts]

What grade level..?

Transactional ethics appears to hinge on operating in opposition of the best interest of the lesser informed or less powerful party.

I'm sure there are examples all around us.

JR

 

[Consul]

This is a college-level course, so we can really sock it to them. :grin:

Sahib: That's a good example, and I'll point it out to her, but I think maybe we were hoping for things in the news, in the world at large. To be honest, I'm not really sure what she wants.

 

[JohnRoberts]

For college students they might be interested in the the ethics of dating :roll: surely a lot of material there.

JR

 

[living sounds]

Where to start?

Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethics_topics

 

[Consul]

We already know all of that stuff. What she's hoping for are specific cases where people/companies/organizations have fallen afoul of the dividing lines. Let me give a hypothetical (completely fictional) example.

The US has pretty strict child labor laws, with a few traditional exceptions, like paper routes. Now, let's say a small restaurant decided to employ a pair of 13-year-olds an hour or two every couple of days to wash their windows, so the kids can earn a bit of cash. Suddenly, they find themselves run afoul of the law, and under prosecution.

The two sides of this issue are 1) the restaurant did technically, to the letter, violate the law, but 2) did not violate the spirit, and did no actual harm to the teenagers.

The ethical issue now is, which side is correct?

What she's hoping to find are some examples of something like this happening all over the world. It need not be child labor, like I'm using in my contrived example here. It could be anything on that Wikipedia list. The closer to the gray area the story is, the better.

Thank you very much for the help!

 

[nickt]

[quote author="living sounds"]Where to start?

Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethics_topics[/quote]

From the 'Business Ethics" link:

This part of business ethics overlaps with the philosophy of business, one of the aims of which is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company. If a company's main purpose is to maximize the returns to its shareholders, then it could be seen as unethical for a company to consider the interests and rights of anyone else.

Huh? if that's the case no wonder we're in deep doodoo! :shock: I'm so nieve... :wink:

Consul: this link is to the St James Ethics Centre - may be has some examples from the aussie perspective?

http://www.ethics.org.au/

 

[living sounds]

The past 8 years provide a rich and colourful resource of ethics related topics: Guantanamo, Iraq, Foley, Ted Haggard, the whole economic complex, Terry Shiavo, the "pro-life"-movement and the death penalty, ...

I think it's much more relevant and interesting to look at the failings at the top of the chain, since those usually cause the failings at the bottom.

Here's some very educational science on the true causes of islamistic terrorism (probably not fully on-topic, but people should watch this):
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=5701806759199654816&ei=Me4CSd3PMIiG2gK0wNiHCw&q=acott+atran

And I would look into the actual findings of (evolutionary) biology and anthropology and how morals and ethics work in a human being (in-group/outgroup, tribalism, mirror neurons):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neurons

They're at the basis of it all.

 

[MartyMart]

Here's a recent one :

Lehman Bro's about to go belly up, so in the last hour of business they demand
that eight million pounds be transferred from the UK office.
That was UK money from EU clients and investments.
The UK offices that closed are now struggling to pay any of their staff compensation.
Not rich "fat bonus" brokers, but office staff, PA's cleaners etc are now struggling.
They all have family's and responsibilities.

Was that ethical ??

MM.

 

[sahib]

[quote author="living sounds"]

Here's some very educational science on the true causes of islamistic terrorism (probably not fully on-topic, but people should watch this):
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=5701806759199654816&ei=Me4CSd3PMIiG2gK0wNiHCw&q=acott+atran
.[/quote]


And I strongly recommend it. Excellent. Watch it from start o finish.

Thank you for the link.

However, there is an example of of ethics in that too, in terms of how press conducts its business. Unfortunately the headline sells the paper, even if it does not represent the truth.

 

[Gustav]

[quote author="SSLtech"]After drafting a will for an elderly client, the lawyer announced a fee of $100.

The client gave the lawyer a $100 bill.

After the client left, the lawyer saw that the client had in fact paid $200, as two of the client's $100 bills managed to stick together.

Looking at the extra $100 bill, the obvious ethical question arose in the lawyer's mind: "Do I tell my partner?"[/quote]


:green: