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2013/2014 BA-HA_HU3P Business, morality and capitalism - a critical dialogue on the issues
| English Title | |
| Business, morality and capitalism - a critical dialogue on the issues |
Course information |
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| Language | English |
| Exam ECTS | 7.5 ECTS |
| Type | Elective |
| Level | Bachelor |
| Duration | Summer |
| Course period | Summer
Please check www.cbs.dk/summer for the course schedule. |
| Time Table | Please see course schedule at e-Campus |
| Study board |
Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business
Administration
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| Course coordinator | |
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| Last updated on 30-05-2013 | |
| Learning objectives | |||||||||||||||||||||
At the end of the course the student
should be able to:
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| Course prerequisites | |||||||||||||||||||||
| There are no academic prerequisites for this course. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites for registering for the exam | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Compulsory assignments
(assessed approved/not approved)
Mandatory Mid-term Assignment: You will be required to write a 2-3 page paper which analyzes some conflict concerning the economy, law, or justice within the constrained and the unconstrained frameworks set forth in Thomas Sowell’s book A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggle. |
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| Examination | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Course content and structure | |||||||||||||||||||||
| This course developed out of my
interest in the junctures between economics, business, and
philosophy. My undergraduate major was in history and I
earned a Ph.D. in Economics with a field in the History of Economic
Thought. I have taught economics, economic history and
intellectual history, as a result. My entire career has been
spent in business schools and I was Professor of Finance for seven
years mid-career. I have taught the Economics of Strategy to
Executive MBA students for many years.
The driving impetus for the development of this course arouse from my diverse experience with all levels of students and my observation that they often struggled with ethics and ethical frameworks. This applied not only to "traditional" business ethics issues at the micro-level but also ethics at the "macro-level". Many students seem to exhibit moral confusion concerning the practice of business itself. These students were operating within commercial society and were simultaneously voicing deep moral ambiguity towards their chosen career. This seemed odd: We are likely to spend a significant part of our lives at work and we should at the very least think about the positive contributions which our work brings to others. If students of business are to be fulfilled and happy human beings they need some basis on which to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions their efforts make to human society. Thus, I developed this course which specifically exposes students to some of the major criticisms of commercial society (business) and then provides a defence of commercial exchange and capitalism through readings in classical liberal philosophy and Austrian economics. Outline the skills and competences that the course will help to develop. The skills and competencies addressed in this course are explained in the two following sections of this form: "Learning objectives" and "The course's development of personal competencies." That markets are inherently immoral seems to be widely-shared perception, even by some, as a priori assumption. Yet market exchange makes available, to most people, a range and depth of goods and services that they could never achieve under economic autarky. While many business schools have developed courses covering business ethics at the firm and individual level, few have developed courses addressing the fundamental issue of the ethics of capitalism itself. This course specifically addresses the economic system in which most businesses operate. Can a market system produce results that are fundamentally just? Is justice possible without voluntary exchange? Must justice be divorced from productivity to be achievable and what are the ramifications of this separation? How is freedom in the economic sphere linked to freedom in other spheres of human endeavours, including politics? Students explore these questions applying both economic and philosophical frameworks. The course emphasizes the causes, consequences, and morality of capitalism. Major critics of capitalism including Karl Marx, Frederich Engels and Georges Bataille on commercialism and materialism are covered. The defence of capitalism is formed in the readings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Frederic Bastiat, and Milton Friedman. we will also look at the predicted collapse of capitalism through the analysis of Karl Marx and Joseph Schumpeter. The work of Austrian economists F.A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises on capitalism, entrepreneurship, and economics by will also be covered. The course's development of personal competences: Personal and Interpersonal Competences
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| Teaching methods | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Each class will involve approximately
1/2 lecture and 1/2 Socratic discussion. The Socratic discussion
will involve questioning by either the professor or by the students
themselves of their peers. Students will be assigned teams and in
each class meeting it will be the responsibility of one team to
conduct the Socratic questioning on one of the day's readings.
Preliminary Assignment: Prior to our first class, students need to watch a set of video's and read the following: 1 Bastiat, Frederic, Economic Sophisms. A Petition The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. 1996. Trans. and ed. Arthur Goddard. Library of Economics and Liberty. 1 August 2007. < http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basSoph3.html>. Read paragraphs I.7.1 – I.7.29. 2 Bastiat, Frederic, Selected Essays on Political Economy. What is Seen and What is Not Seen The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. 1995. Trans. Seymour Cain. Ed. George B. de Huszar. Library of Economics and Liberty. 1 August 2007. < http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basEss1.html>. Read paragraphs 1.1 – 1.301 3 Bastiat, Frederic, The Law Read the entire book. http://fee.org/library/books/the-law-by-frederic-bastiat-free-download/ Please also watch the following five videos. The first four videos are about 10 minutes each. The last video is about two hours long. 1-4 Michael Strong - The Habit of Thought: On Socratic Seminar: Chapter 1-4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aaS90pfbo4 │ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu_L-HuQDes │ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taz4u4oDL60 │ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO9TVPs78PU 5 The Commanding Heights - Episode One: The Battle of Ideas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUiy61vxeZs. NB: It is the first of three in a series produced by the Boston Public Television station WGBU. There is also a version at www.wgbu.org that is discontinuous |
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| Expected literature | |||||||||||||||||||||
Readings
include
Please purchase these exact editions so that when we refer to the books in class we have the same pagination. Course Outline Class Meeting 1 – Course Introduction and Frederic Bastiat Discussionof Preliminary Assignment which includes the video's on the Socratic method, The Commanding Heights, and the following three readings. 1.) Bastiat, Frederic, Economic Sophisms. A PetitionThe Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. 1996. Trans. and ed. Arthur Goddard. Library of Economics and Liberty. 1 August 2007. <http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basSoph3.html>. 2.) Bastiat, Frederic, Selected Essays on Political Economy. What is Seen and What is Not SeenThe Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. 1995. Trans. Seymour Cain. Ed. George B. de Huszar. Library of Economics and Liberty. 1 August 2007. <http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basEss1.html>. 3.) Bastiat, Frederic, The Law Class Meeting 2 – Frederic Bastiat, Milton Friedman, and Bryan Caplan 1.) FINISH Bastiat, Frederic, The Law 2.) Friedman,Milton. (2002). Capitalism and Freedom. Chapter 1- "The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom". Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962, pp. 7-17 Here is a study guide for Capitalism and Freedom- Chapter 1 3.) Caplan, Bryan. 2007. The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Pages 23-49. Class Meeting 3 -A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles * Here is a Study Guide for A Conflict of Visions Ideological Origins of Political Struggles. Author: Thomas Sowell Publisher: Basic Books Publication Date: February 19, 2002 ISBN-13: 978-0-46508-142-4 Class Meeting 4 - A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles andWhat is Capitalism? Opposing Perspectives 1.) Continued discussion ofA Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles 2.) What is Capitalism? The World Socialist Movement Website 3.) Robert Hessen, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Capitalism 4.) Robert Heilbroner, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Socialism 5.) David L. Prychitkop, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics,Marxism 6.) Bryan Caplan, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Communism 7.) Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Chapter 1 – “What is Capitalism?” Source: Signet Books * Here is a Study Guide for this reading. Class Meeting 5 - Hobbes and Locke 1.) Hobbes, Thomas. The Leviathan, 1660. Chapter XI - Of the Difference of Manners Chapter XIII - Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning their Felicity and Misery 2.) Locke, John. Of Civil Government - Second Treatise, 1662. Ch. IV - On Slavery Ch. V - On Property Class Meeting 6 – Adam Smith 1.) Adam Smith, Book 1, Chapters 1-3An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations found at http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html * Here is a Study Guide for this section. Book I - Of the Causes of Improvement in the productive Powers of Labour, and of the Order according to which its Produce is naturally distributed among the different Ranks of the People Chapter I - Of the Division of Labor Chapter II - Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour Chapter III - That the Division of Labour is Limited by the Extent of the Market STOP - DO NOT READ Chapter IV - Of the Origin and Use of Money 2.) Plus this selection from The Wealth of Nations (approximately 3 pages of selected short passages) * There is no Study Guide for this section. Read and summarize the major point(s). 3.) Adam Smith, Part IV Chapters 1 and 2 ofThe Theory of Moral Sentiments found at: http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS4.html * Here is a Study Guide for this section. Part IV - Of the Effect of Utility upon the Sentiment of Approbation Chapter 1 - Of the beauty which the appearance of Utility bestows upon all the productions of art, and of the extensive influence of this species of Beauty Chapter 2 - Of the beauty which the appearance of Utility bestows upon the characters and actions of men; and how far the perception if this beauty may be regarded as one of the original principles of approbation 4.) Plus this selection from The Theory of Moral Sentiments( Chap. II - Of the order in which Societies are by nature recommended to our Beneficence) * Here is a Study Guide for this section Class Meeting 7 – Schumpeter on Creative Destruction and the Fall of Capitalism, Hayek’s “Use of Knowledge in Society” 1.) Capitalism: Its Nature and Demise(Abridged version of the full reading below.) 12 pages 2.) McKinsey Report on Creative Destruction18 pages 3.) Listen to ECONTALK with Russ Roberts and Thomas McGraw on Schumpeter, Innovation, and Creative Destruction 4.) Hayek, F. A., "The Use of Knowledge in Society". American Economic Review . XXXV, No. 4; pp. 519-30. September, 1945. Library of Economics and Liberty. 1 August 2007. <http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw1.html>. Class Meeting 8 – Engels, Pope Leo XIII, Bataille, Tugwell - Critiquing Capitalism 1.) Engels, Frederick. “ The Principles of Communism,” 1847 2.) Pope Leo XIII, “De Rerum Novarum,” May 15, 1891, paras. 1-15, 19-20 34-38, 43-53 3.) George Bataille. “ The Notion of Expenditure” 4.) Rexford G. Tugwell " The Principle of Planning and the Institution of Laissez Faire" Class Meeting 9 - Mises - Liberalism: The Classical Tradition Mises, Ludwig von. Liberalism: The Classical Tradition. Chapters Introduction, 1,2,3 through pg. 81 (Part 3 - The Political Foundations of Peace) Author: Ludwig von Mises, Edited by Bettina Bien Graves Publisher: Liberty Fund Publication Date: 2005 ISBN-13: 978-0-86597-586-6 Class Meeting 10 - Mises - Liberalism: The Classical Tradition Mises, Ludwig von. Liberalism: The Classical Tradition. Remainder of the book. Class Meeting 11 - Course Review Read: Buchanan, James M. (2005) Afraid to be free: Dependency as desideratum. Public Choice, (124): 19-31. We will use this article as a framework to review the themes of this course. We will construct that framework in about 20 minutes and then link it to the review materials. The review will be comprehensive with respect to the materials covered. All students would bring at least two questions that represent their introspection on this course and be ready to ask these questions of the class. |
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Last updated on
30-05-2013