15.269B | Fall 2002 | Graduate

Literature, Ethics and Authority

Readings

Many of the readings may be downloaded from the Project Gutenberg site. Those available for download are linked from the bibliographic entry.

LEC # Topics Readings
1 Power and Authority

Plato. Excerpts from The Republic. (download from Project Gutenberg)

Dostoyevksy. The Legend of the Grand Inquistor.

Kantor, Rosabeth. Excerpt from Men and Women of the Corporation.

Case Study: “Foreign Assignment.”

2 Ethics and Business Ethics

Cheever, John. The Housebreaker of Shady Hill.

Carr, Albert. Is Business Bluffing Ethical?

Aristotle. The Politics. (Excerpt on household management)

Case Study: “Italian Tax Mores.”

3 Loyalty and Conflict of Values

Sophocles. Antigone.

Plato. Crito. (download from Project Gutenberg)

Case Study: New York Times, “Into the Mouths of Babes.”

4 Leadership and Followership

Shakespeare. Julius Caesar. (download from Project Gutenberg)

Machiavelli. The Prince. Ch. 14-18. (download from Project Gutenberg)

5 Dirty Money

Shaw, George Bernard. Major Barbara. (download from Project Gutenberg)

St. Matthew. The Sermon on the Mount; The Parable of Payment. (download from Project Gutenberg)

Hobbes, Thomas. Excerpt from Leviathan.

Aristotle. Politics. Bk 3, ch. 9.

Lucas, J. R. “Money.” Excerpt from Responsibility.

6 Stewardship

Dinesen, Isak. (Karen von Blixen). Sorrow-Acre.

Friedman, Milton. The Social Responsibility of Business is Profit.

Heifetz, Ronald. “Tacoma.” From Leadership without Easy Answers.

Case Study.

7 Living in the System

Forster, E. M. The Machine Stops.

Pruitt and Barrett. Corporate Virtual Workspace.

“Roger Boisjoly and the Challenger Disaster.”

8 Taking Charge

Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Sharer. (download from Project Gutenberg)

Orwell, George. Shooting an Elephant.

Williams, William Carlos. The Use of Force.

9 Living with the Truth

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. Book 4 only. (download from Project Gutenberg)

Kant, Immanuel. On the Supposed Right to Lie.

Bonhoffer, Dietrich. Situational Ethics.

Levitt, Theodore. The Morality (?) of Advertising.

Case Studies: Circumventing the FDIC, The New Line of Soap, Mutal Fund Management, A Problem in Performance Evaluation.

10 Glass Ceilings

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House.

Beauvoir, Simone de. Introduction to The Second Sex.

Case Study: “Unequal Opportunity.”