College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
1) Who are we?
Questions to ponder concerning Stone's The Gnat is Older than Man
2) Stone paints two very different pictures of the 'state of the earth.' To which do you subscribe, and what reasons can you offer in support of your position?
3) In beginning Chapter II, Stone asks "why do our social institutions have such a hard time correcting our course?" Why, indeed?
4) In Chapter III, Stone queries "when, and with what justification, should a society interpose itself between a willing seller and a willing buyer?" When, indeed?
5) The issue of the 'global commons' and the enclosure movement is discussed in some depth by Stone in Chapter IV. If we 'buy' Stone's argument, how would the concept of 'guardianship' serve to protect the commons?
6) Same as 4), but substitute 'Chapter IV' with 'Chapter V,' and more importantly the word 'treaty' for 'guardianship.'
7) In Chapter VI it becomes clear that 'preferences' and 'desires' play a large role in arguments of economic efficiency (see, e.g., pp 127-28). Are there limits to the ability of market forces to correct for environmental harms?
8) Stone would "establish a Global Commons Trust Fund" to help the world "cope with loss of biodiversity" (p 208). Would such a plan work?
9) On page 241, Stone argues that "the censure of 'capitalist greed' can be reformulated to bring out a truth in the underlying intuition. The right target is less capitalism than consumption." True or false? What does our perspective on this question have to do with environmentalism?
10) "How ought one to live? That and what sort of earth are we aiming for are the bedrock issues that lie at the intersection of philosophy and spirit. They are issues that are resolved less by formal choice, in which the mind is governed by appeals to consistency, than by life-style choices" (p 280). What does the question of 'how ought one to live' have to do with 'business'?
Return to Professor Dunn's home page.