Ethics

When Can Professors Have Sex with Their Students? [new “The Good Life” column]

1 Comment / Education, Ethics /

The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “Two sex scandals in philosophy departments have, well, scandalized the academic world recently. “One at the University of Miami in Florida led to the resignation of professor Colin McGinn. The other, at the University of Colorado, Boulder resulted in the removal of the department chair, Graeme Forbes. […]

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Who should pay for my contraceptives? Three positions

6 Comments / Business Ethics, Ethics, Politics /

A modest goal in this post: to clarify the moral and political options. First, whose moral responsibility is it? That is, who, as a matter of choice, should assume this responsibility? Position 1: It is my responsibility to provide them for myself. (Individualism) Position 2: My employer should be responsible for providing them. (Workplace Paternalism)

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Transcript of “13 arguments for liberal capitalism in 13 minutes”

3 Comments / Economics, Ethics, Politics /

With much thanks to Matheus Pacini for his work on the transcription, below is the text for my “13 arguments for liberal capitalism in 13 minutes.” The original videos are at YouTube. The graphic integration of the arguments in a flowchart is here. And here’s the transcript in PDF. 13 Arguments for Liberal Capitalism in

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Individualism and economic growth — Gorodnichenko and Roland

Leave a Comment / Business Ethics, Culture, Economics, Ethics /

In an NBER paper, “Culture, Institutions and the Wealth of Nations,” Yuriy Gorodnichenko and Gerard Roland compare the growth gains that individualist ethics generate compared to those of collectivist ethics. The first sentences of their abstract: “We construct an endogenous growth model that includes a cultural variable along the dimension of individualism-collectivism. The model predicts

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Paul Theroux on ending aid to Africa

2 Comments / Entrepreneurship, Ethics /

In Barron’s, Paul Theroux argues that 150 years of aid to Africa has not helped much — and may have hurt more than it helped. Theroux discusses the failure of several recent externally-generated efforts, including Jeffrey Sachs’s top-down Millennium Project and the long history of well-meaning “Telescopic Philanthropists,” as well as Africa’s internal problems of

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Video interview with Professor Nicholas Capaldi

Leave a Comment / Business Ethics, Ethics, History, Politics /

Professor Capaldi lectured recently at Rockford University on the topic of “The Lockean Liberty Narrative versus the Rousseau Equality Narrative, and How These Narratives Explain Everything.” Afterward we discussed his themes — the conflict between the Lockean and Rousseauian narratives, enterprise and civil societies, the nature of the corporation, corporate philanthropy, cronyism, and more. Professor

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