What should be taught in courses on social ethics?

The purpose of this article is to discuss the concept and the content of courses on “social ethics”. I will present a dilemma that arises in the design of such courses. On the one hand, they may present versions of “applied ethics”; that is, courses in which moral theories are applied to moral and social problems. On the other hand, they may present generalised forms of “occupational ethics”, usually professional ethics, with some business ethics added to expand the range of the course. Is there, then, not some middle ground that is distinctively designated by the term “social ethics”? I will argue that there is such a ground. I will describe that ground as the ethics of “social practices”. I will then illustrate how this approach to the teaching of ethics may be carried out in five domains of social practice: professional ethics, commercial ethics, corporate ethics, governmental ethics, and ethics in the voluntary sector. My aim is to show that “social ethics” courses can have a clear rationale and systematic content

CBERN - Naskapi Projects

The Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN) began working in collaboration with the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach (NNK) in early 2007. This relationship was initiated by former NNK Chief Phil Einish. The goal was to ensure that the Naskapi people benefited from mining on their traditional territories and avoided the negative impacts caused by previous mining activity by the Iron Ore Company of Canada.Funding Program: SSHRC Insight Grant Funding Amount: $469,23

Ethics

Ethics is a collection of thoughts on the method, form and content of Ethics. This book is a thematic compilation drawn from past works by the author, over a period of thirteen years. The essays are placed in chronological order

Do Engineering Students Learn Ethics From an Ethics Course?

The goal of the present research is to develop machine-assisted methods that can assist in the analysis of students’ written compositions in ethics courses. As part of this research, we analyzed Social Impact Assessment (SIA) papers submitted by engineering undergraduates in a course on engineering ethics. The SIA papers required students to identify and discuss a contemporary engineering technology (e.g., autonomous tractor trailers) and to explicitly discuss the ethical issues involved in that technology. Here we describe the ability of three machine tools to discriminate differences in the technical compared to ethical portions of the SIA papers. First, using LIWC (Language Inquiry and Word Count) we quantified differences in analytical thinking, expertise and self-confidence, disclosure, and affect, in the technical and ethical portions of the papers. Next, we applied MEH (Meaning Extraction Helper) to examine differences in critical concepts in the technical and ethical portions of the papers. Finally, we used LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) to examine differences in the topics in the technical and ethical portions of the papers. The results of these three tests demonstrate the ability of machine-based tools to discriminate conceptual, affective, and motivational differences in the texts that students compose that relate to engineering technology and to engineering ethics. We discuss the utility and future directions for this research.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Advisory Board Members

For SSHRC funded projects, the Applicant, now Principal Investigator (PI), has responsibility for the direction of the project and all financial expenditures. Consistent with this requirement, the CBERN/SSHRC proposal contains two Governance elements. First, the Principal Investigator is required to report to an annual meeting whose membership includes co-applicants, now co-investigators, collaborators and partners, on financial expenditures, project activities and strategic planning. In addition, the proposal calls for the establishment of an Advisory Board, which is to meet at least twice yearly, in person at the Annual Meeting and by telephone conference mid-way through the year. Initial membership and structure of the Advisory Board was set out in the proposal

CBERN - The First Six Years: Challenges and Achievements

CBERN was created in 2006. Its mandate was to create a network able to address critically, persuasively and visibly the foundational role of ethics in business and economic development. The task facing the network was significant. The field was fractured by suspicion, hostility and lack of communication and trust between and among people and organizations in the private, public, voluntary and academic sectors. Research was siloed in the four different sectors and a variety of academic disciplines and sub disciplines. What is more, the role of business ethics in management education and academic research agendas was modest and relatively insubstantial. The challenge facing CBERN has been to address these challenges and build the foundations for change.A successful proposal for a $2.1 million Strategic Knowledge Clusters grant in 2006. The proposal was supported by approximately$300,000 in private sector financial and in kind commitments.Since its inception, CBERN has received an additional $152,000 in SSHRC grants with Dr. Cragg, CBERN’s Project Director and Principal Investigator, as the lead applicant;$125,000 in Schulich School of Business and York cash contributions; modest additional private sector funding, and significant additional in kind contributions from partners: firms, research centres, voluntary sector organizations, and volunteer interns. CBERN has been a partner on an additional 1,269,000 in SSHRC grants as well as aResearch & Dialogue in Support of Ethical Business Practices &Economic, Environmental and Social Sustainability 2 25 million dollar Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) grant for the Canadian International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development (CIIEID)