College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
1) Could what happened on Easter Island happen in the United States?
2) Do organizations’ responsibilities go beyond the production of good and services for a profit?
3) What, if any, are our ethical obligations to future generations?
4) Whose rights win out: Nature or People? What if something that is environmentally harmful is creating jobs for the people in these areas and boosting their economy?
5) Do corporations serve a wider range of human values than just economics?
6) What are the ethical dilemmas for a scientist who accepts funding from Exxon? The Sierra Club? Is the science that comes from “tainted” funding still valid?
7) Should we allow entrepreneurs to profit from items that already exist in nature? Are all forms of life sacred and not open to private claim or profit?
8) Does nature have a sacred and intrinsic value or merely utility value?
9) Should pesticides be exported to developing countries to aid in food production at the possible expense of the health and safety of disadvantaged peoples?
10) Do environmental restrictions violate basic economic freedoms?
11) After playing the Commons Game, it is easy to note our over consumption as a society. How can we as consumers encourage businesses to act more socially responsible with regards to this?
12) In America, success = excess. What is the feasibility of overcoming this obstacle? What are some suggestions you might make?
13) Is it better to work towards small changes or put our efforts in to larger solutions that will do more good (i.e. – “fix everything all at once”)? Which is more feasible? Is “global warming” a legitimate problem? How certain are you, and why?
14) In Natural Capitalism, Hawken states, "The environment is not a minor factor of production but rather is 'an envelope containing, provisioning, and sustaining the entire economy.'" How is this argument valid and what can be done to prevent the envelope from being shredded?
The Ethics of Ecology, Joseph W. Weiss
15) How do these responsibilities involve helping to solve important social problems, especially those they helped create?
16) Do corporations have a broader constituency than stockholders alone?
17) Do corporations have impacts that go beyond simple marketplace transactions?
Return to Professor Dunn's home page.