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| Business Ethics Blogs |
| A Call for Reason on Health Care | | Over decades and centuries, Western civilizations have come to accept the idea of human rights, and new rights have occasionally been added to the list. In America we are now faced with the challenge of accepting basic health care as a human right for our own residents. Rigorous fact-finding and calm discussion might lead us to a workable solution, but this approach does not appear to be favored. On the 'left,' discussions emphasize rights but not duties. On the 'right,' it's the opposite. What if the proponents of universal health care spent time and effort addressing cost concerns? What if opponents spent time and effort developing empathy for those who suffer?
This sort of cross-thinking is indeed one of the underlying purposes of a university education. We hope to train students to consider carefully the facts and logic of situations and to make deliberate, well-reasoned choices. We now know, however, that reason can be hijacked by emotion, and that this is a built-in physiological response to threat and fear. Knowing more about how our lizard-brains affect our cognitive abilities gives us added responsibility to watch out for such hijackings and stall them long enough to engage our thinking brains.
Health care 'reform' is certainly going to gore someone's ox. But perhaps some of these oxen need to be put out to pasture.
Compassion without responsibility is overbearing and fiscally disastrous. But responsibility without empathy is mechanical and harsher than human beings ought to be. | | Posted on: 9/21/2009 9:30:49 AM | | Posted by: DJW | | How Time Flies | | A sabbatical is a time to renew one's enthusiasm, refresh the knowledge base, and complete a research project without the distractions, however pleasurable, of teaching and service. At UNI, these are called Professional Development Assignments, or PDAs. I was on PDA during spring term 2007, and completed a new textbook, BUSINESS ETHICS: TEXT AND WORKBOOK (for details, see www.woodhavenpress.com). I'm back in the classroom now, and it's amazing how time has flown. Already we're at midterm. Students have settled into a groove in the class, and almost everyone tries to keep up with assignments and participate. With few exceptions, our students are hard-working, smart, and looking forward to beginning their professional lives. Maybe the future has something going for it after all.... | | Posted on: 10/4/2007 8:24:57 PM | | Posted by: DJW | | A New Look for the GBE Site | | Thanks to Nick Anderson for designing the new website design. There are brand new pages with information on the Wilson Chair and what it does, links to my latest publications -- including the new book, GLOBAL BUSINESS CITIZENSHIP, and a forthcoming text, BUSINESS ETHICS: TEXT AND WORKBOOK (this one under the Woodhaven Press imprint). In the near future, there will be lots of links to great sites for business ethics information. Nick has fixed the old "events' page, which never worked right, and now you'll be able to see a full listing of upcoming and historical events, including public on-campus Wilson Series events, speeches and presentations that I give to groups, and various other things that are happening. Come back and visit again sometime soon! | | Posted on: 6/4/2006 11:22:25 PM | | Posted by: DJW | | Nick Is Doing Great | | Wow - it is hard to believe all the work that goes into constructing a website. Thank heavens for Nick! | | Posted on: 5/30/2006 3:26:48 PM | | Posted by: DJW |
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