Professor Elam

I have asked you to review a movie both on paper and in class which features an ethical theme.  Like one of my students, I pretty much thought this was a black and white issue when I set out to creat a syllabus.  After teaching the accounting ethics class twice I have decided otherwise. 

Modern ethical theory can be expresed in three broad concepts. Utility, Justice or Normative ethics, and Rights.  Jeremy Benthan is the father of utilitarianism. This theory simply states that one should choose an ethical path based on whether the result causes pleasure or pain.  Simple yes but then pleasure and pain to whom?   John Rawls proposes a Theory of Justice.  Here the idea is that the result should be the greatest benefit to the most and worst outcome to the least.  Karl Marx was in this camp as well as everyone who want to rob Peter to pay Paul, thereby assuring the support of Paul.  This of course is the philosophy of those on the political left.  The political right is represented by Robert Nozick. He believed in the sanctityof private property and that as long as no law is violated, individuals have the right to pursue their own desires and the rights of the state to interfere should be limited.  Click on the links to learn more.

Now while an outline of the movie is desirable we are not looking for a condensed script.  Quickly outline the plot and then get us to the ethical dilemmas.  How does this affect the characters and their responses to the situation.  What does the movie say about how we should live our lives, which after all was the way Socrates posed the original question of ethics? Is this really any more complex than Robert Fulghum ( All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten) suggested? Should we be a rules or principle based society ( this has real meaning in accounting)?  Do you see a link between the movie theme and what we study in class?

OKay didn’t want you hanging out there all by yourself.