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Category Archives: Ethics
Is there such a thing as an immoral promise?
Or is an immoral or wicked promise not a real “promise” qua promise at all? In either case, we need to have some reliable method of determining right from wrong, yet most (if not all) theories of promissory obligation fail … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law, Paradoxes, Philosophy
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Next Lecture: Contracts & Fraud
Part 1 — Contracts (Lessons 3 & 4) “The Social Network” (the film version of our assigned book “Accidental Billionaires”) depicts an ill-fated promise. After the Winklevoss twins introduce themselves to fellow classmate Mark Zuckerberg, they pitch him their idea for … Continue reading
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Is an immoral promise a paradox or a contradiction?
Have you ever made an “immoral promise,” i.e. have you ever promised to do something wrongful, like tell a lie or steal? (By the way, how does one decide when something is wrongful?) Is such a promise even logically possible; … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Paradoxes, Philosophy, Questions Rarely Asked
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Was Facemash illegal or just unethical?
In our second class (May 19th), we are going to re-enact Mark Zuckerberg’s “Ad Board” hearing at Harvard. (Some background: Before he launched Facebook, Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerburg created a website called Facemash in the fall of 2003. In brief, Facemash … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law
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“Facebook 101”
This summer, we are teaching a large undergraduate course (n = 305) on “the legal and ethical environment of business.” Specifically, we will focus on the founding of Facebook–as depicted in the bestseller “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich–to explore … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Law, Literature
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Is Facebook an ethical company? (Last Lesson)
Let’s discuss “business ethics” in our next-to-last class (4/18). Thus far, we’ve focused on the founding and initial growth of Facebook; let’s now fast forward to Facebook’s January 2012 “emotional contagion experiment,” a massive online psychology experiment it secretly carried … Continue reading
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When moral and legal principles collide …
Economist extraordinaire Tyler Cowen poses the following thought-provoking question via Twitter: “Are your views on privacy and #PanamaPapers consistent? Just asking …” In other words, when two great moral or legal principles are in conflict with each other — such … Continue reading
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Our favorite research poster
We have been celebrating Research Week at our home institution, the University of Central Florida (UCF). Our Research Week culminated today with the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence, featuring over 300 student poster presentations, representing over 50 majors. One of … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Art, Culture, Ethics, History, Philosophy
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Visualization of moral entropy in Breaking Bad
Hat tip: Shreya Durvasula (via The Hooded Utilitarian)
Posted in Art, Culture, Ethics
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Jurisdiction & Ethics (Lessons 8-9)
“This wasn’t right, damn it. This wasn’t fair.” –Quoted from Ben Mezrich, The Accidental Billionaires. In our next lecture (2/22), we are going to re-enact another pivotal scene from the movie “The Social Network”–a scene based on chapter 16 of … Continue reading
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prior probability 