EEG Measures of Facial Expression Recognition

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the human mirror neuron system (hMNS) in the accurate identification of emotional facial expressions. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record Mu wave activity while participants preformed a series of video-matching tasks, in which they discriminated between facial stimuli by either emotional expression or model identity. A polygon-matching task was used as a baseline measure for mirror neuron activity. Mu Suppression Indices were calculated and compared between the identity-matching and emotion-matching conditions. Mu suppression was significantly increased in the emotion-matching condition, suggesting that the mirror neuron system is engaged to a greater extent during emotional facial expression processing than general face processing. Future research should further investigate this engagement of the hMNS, especially in relation to peripheral feedback mechanisms that might also be involved in recognizing emotional facial expressions

Formal Organizations, Economic Freedom and Moral Agency

Editor\u27s note: This paper was read at the eighth annual University of Dayton Philosophy Colloquium, held in 1979. In this paper I shall make three arguments. First, I shall argue that while society tends to hold corporations morally responsible, and while one might argue that corporations should be morally accountable, corporations, as formal institutions, are so structured that such accountability is philosophically inappropriate. I shall criticize certain recent suggestions offered to make sense out of corporate moral responsibility because these suggestions either confuse corporations with other kinds of institutions, or they tend to confuse the concept of social responsibility with moral accountability. Second, I shall claim that my conclusion that corporations are not structured as moral agents does not support Friedman\u27s argument that in a free society the only responsibility of business is to its stockholders. This is because social responsibility and moral accountability are not interchangeable concepts, and because profit maximization and social responsibility are not contradictory corporate functions. I shall conclude the paper by arguing that Friedman\u27s notion of a free society involves the notion of moral accountability, and that corporate moral agency is a condition for the proper functioning of a private free enterprise system. Thus if economic freedom and autonomy are important, corporations might wish to examine what the notion of institutional moral agency entails

Leadership Ethics

Research into the topic of leadership ethics has grown and evolved gradually over the past few decades. This timely set arrives at an important moment in the subject\u27s history. In a relatively new field, such a collection offers scholars more than articles on a topic; it also serves to outline the parameters of the field. Carefully structured over three volumes, the material runs through an understanding of the key philosophic and practical questions in leadership ethics along with a wide range of literature - from disciplines including philosophy, business and political science, to name a few- that speaks to these questions.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1031/thumbnail.jp

Saint Vincent de Paul and the Mission of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics: Why Companies Should Care About Poverty

The mission of DePaul University’s Institute for Business and Professional Ethics (IBPE) is “to encourage ethical deliberation among decision makers by stirring the moral conscience, encouraging moral imagination, and developing models for moral decision-making in business.” In 2006, it added an element: “to inspire companies to address poverty reduction both globally and locally through for-profit initiatives.” The authors make the following assertions: “(1) the poor do not lack resources; (2) poverty alleviation is an evolving, dynamic process; (3) poverty often results from patterns of exclusion; and (4) many feasible approaches to poverty reduction have been and can be created through commerce.” The thinking behind this is explained and illustrated with specific cases. Connections between these propositions and Vincent de Paul’s legacy are made explicit

Tenacity: The American Pursuit of Corporate Responsibility

This article attempts to answer the question, “What are the most important ideas from serving as Executive Editor of the five-year history project that culminated in the book, Corporate Responsibility: The American Experience?” The ideas focus on (1) clarifying the phenomenon of tenacity; (2) looking at three foundations of our tenacity; and (3) asking “How fragile is our tenacity?” This article also presents three foundational principles that underlie the American experience of corporate responsibility. First, the Checks & Balances Principle tells us that there are checks and balances in democratic capitalism which give us confidence that the pursuit of economic goals will be moderated for the common good. Second, the Moral Projection Principle shows that there is good reason to consider the corporation not only as a legal person under corporate law but also as a moral person. And, last, the Moral Common Ground Principle reflects that there are shared moral values ascertainable by well-developed consciences in individuals and in corporations. The article concludes with this argument: The tenacity regarding corporate responsibility that has been so characteristic of American capitalism is fragile—calling for serious vigilance if it is to endure

Seeking the Real Adam Smith and Milton Friedman

In this paper we will analyze the relationship between free market principles and ethics through an exploration of how too many business managers often approach the ideas of Adam Smith and Milton Friedman. In doing so, we aim to provide a thoughtful foundation for future discussions of how we ought to navigate this intersection. We briefly examine questions such as: What is the relationship between the “best” economy in terms of efficiency and the common good for society? Is pursuing one’s individual economic advantage the same as promoting the general interest? As we analyze and discuss these questions, specifically in the context of Smith and Friedman, we also make some alternative normative assertions, grounded in social welfare, about adopting a broader societal perspective for the purpose of business

Robert Dahl and the Right to Workplace Democracy

Do employees possess a moral right to democratic voice at work? In A Preface To Economic Democracy and other writings over the past two decades, Robert Dahl has developed a neo-Kantian proof for the existence of such a right. Even if we accept the norm of distributive justice upon which Dahl founds his proof, voluntary subjection to authoritarian power in firms does not violate the legitimate entitlements of employees. While adult residents of territorial associations do possess a moral right to political equality, polities and firms are qualitatively different types of associations in which the entitlements of subjects are distinct. Subjection to power is acquired in different ways in the two kinds of associations, and this difference deprives employees—but not residents—of a right to democratic voice as a matter of moral desert