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1) Wasserstrom is quoted as asking "Why do the most qualified deserve anything?...Suppose, for instance, that there is only one tennis court in the community. Is it clear that the two best tennis players ought to be the [only] ones permitted to use it?"
Given a shortage of resources, and the responsibility of fairly allocating such scarce 'goods,' many have suggested that we ought to determine who deserves these 'goods' and allocate on that basis alone.On what basis do we deserve anything? Why?
2) If we are to allocate scarce resources on a basis other than 'desert,' what might that basis be...and how might we justify such allocations from the vantage of ethical theory?
3) In Le Guin's `The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,' a perfect utilitarian society is described. However, it can hardly be argued that this is a just society.
Which is more important: utility or justice? Are the two necessarily mutually exculsive?
4) The definition of justice with which we have been working...that justice "consists in giving each person his or her 'due,' treating equals equally and unequals unequally"...is premised upon a particular view of human nature.
What is this view? Is it an accurate view? Is it possible for people to be motivated out of a concern for the collective good? Under what conditions might this be more (or less) possible?
5) Describe a situation of what might be considered 'injustice' at Qualcomm. How might this situation be remedied? What can you do to make this happen?
6) In Hendrick Smith's Living on the Fault Line, Qualcomm is portrayed as a company which survives economically by employing temporary workers...workers who experience great instability in both their professional as well as personal lives.
Is this an accurate portrayal of life at Qualcomm--at least as it was a few short years ago? What ethical justification can be offered for employing temporary help? What ethical criticism can be offered for employing temporary help? How might a formalized social contract help moderate these two views?
7) The environmental 'land ethic' of Aldo Leopold suggests we ought to take actions which enhance the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.
What might it mean for Qualcomm to take this charge seriously? Provide an example of one specific system or process with which you work which could be altered along the lines of the land ethic. How might this be accomplished?
8) In Zuckerman's Dilemma, Mark Sagoff claims that "To enjoy ecological communities aesthetically or to value them morally is to find directly in them or in their qualities the reasons that justify their protection. This is not a matter of personal preference. It is a matter of judgment and perception..."
Why is it so important to Sagoff that moral value not be based in personal preference? What does this imply about economic value?
9) William Reilly, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, states "Natural ecosystems...have intrinsic values independent of human use that are worthy of protection."
Yet, in his article Don't Trade Man for Nature, we find Peter Schwartz argue that "Human beings survive by reshaping nature to fulfill their needs. Every single step taken to advance beyond the cave--every rock fashioned into a tool, every square foot of barren earth made into productive cropland, every drop of crude petroleum transformed into fuel for cars and planes--constitutes an improvement in human life, achieved by altering our natural environment."Which view is correct? Can the two be reconciled? How?
10) In Environmentalist Pose the Greatest Danger, Michael Berlinger criticizes environmentalists for insisting "[n]ature...has 'intrinsic value,' to be revered for its own sake, irrespective of any benefit to man. As a consequence, man is to be prohibited from using nature for his own ends. Since nature supposedly has value and goodness in itself, any human action that changes the environment is necessarily immoral."
Does the 'consequence' described by Berlinger necessarily follow from his premise? How might the views of environmentalists and those of Berlinger be reconciled?
11) What is industrial ecology?
12) In closing his article Lessons from the Wreck of the Exxon Valdez, Hosmer suggests "[t]he lack of imagination, empathy, and courage at the most senior levels of the company was the true cause of the wreck of the Exxon Valdez.
Do you agree or disagree? If this is the case, what specific actions might Exxon executives have taken to address these core issues?
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