ethics news & views

Virtue ethics and servant leadership

In recent years, servant leadership has become an increasingly popular approach in the corporate world. Companies such as Whole Foods Market, The Container Store, and Southwest Airlines have adopted its principles. Fortune Magazine dedicates an issue each year to "The 100 Best Companies to Work For in America," and many of those in the top ten utilize the practices of servant leadership.

Commercialization of the academy: Reconciling Emory's mission and economic interests

Just as ethics includes the "ethics of character" in personal terms, there is also a kind of ethics of character that applies to institutions. During last month's Reconciliation Symposium I was asked to participate in a panel on "Commercialization of the Academy: Reconciling Emory's Mission and Economic Interests." I shaped my reflections on the strong ethical guidelines included in several passages from Emory's 1992 mission statement. Let me quote:

Ellis returns to Emory March 27

When South African physicist George Ellis led an afternoon workshop last semester, there was standing room only. And so we were delighted when we learned he would be coming for another visit.

You can catch Ellis again March 27. He will give a presentation on "Cosmology & Ethics" at 7:30pm in White Hall, Room 205. He will also lead a workshop on "Science in Service to Society" (RSVP requested) at 2:30pm in Cox Hall, Rooms 1 & 2.

Banja to host summer faculty ethics seminar: Teaching Ethics

This May, Dr. John Banja will host the Center for Ethics' annual faculty seminar. This year's seminar theme is "Teaching Ethics."

Topics are expected to range widely among issues including the challenge of postmodernism, classroom strategies and techniques, teaching ethics in the midst of professional socialization, and teaching decisional models versus nurturing moral agency.

Jim Blanchard explores wisdom in the workplace March 23

Update:
You can catch Jim Blanchard at 9am March 23 at Goizueta Business School, Room 130. (Updated March 15, 2001 2:21 PM)

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Got scruples?

Over the past few months, several people have requested an online forum to discuss ethical issues, raise questions, and just stay in touch with other folks interested in the work of the Center for Ethics.

That's why we're now offering "Scruples," a listserv discussion forum that provides a virtual salon for discussion of everything ethics.

The end is near: one dollar, one vote, and the dying breath of democracy

"That a peasant may become a king does not render the kingdom democratic." Woodrow Wilson, 1910 (88)

To imagine Thomas Frank standing on a street corner wearing a large sign announcing the end of the world would not be inappropriate, especially if you picture him yelling in a hoarse voice at passersby, say, in downtown Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests. Hair shirt and locusts included, of course.

A return to nature?

In Force of Imagination: The Sense of the Elemental, John Sallis calls philosophers to return to nature. His instruction is not a unique one: pick up any environmentally savvy text these days—or any feminist theory worth its salt—and you'll find similar injunctions. What makes Sallis's work stand out from the crowd—and in my opinion, what makes it worth reading—is its attentive engagement with those philosophers often deemed "the bad guys" by contemporary postmodern and liberation discourses: Plato and Aristotle, Kant and Fichte, Nietzsche, and the Romantic poets.

On the positive uses of irony

From the February 15 lecture at Emory.

More by Jedediah Purdy.

I want to talk with you about irony. You know that word refers to a contradiction between the literal meaning of words or actions and their meaning in the context where they take place.

But that definition doesn't capture the mood of irony. As we tend to use it, irony is a way of getting distance from a situation, a theme, a personality, an incident. It's also a kind of self-protection. If you asked me, "Has your heart ever been broken," and I answered, "Yes, when they kicked Marilyn off of Survivor last week," I would be denying you access to a part of me. By answering an intimate question with televised melodrama, I would also be setting myself apart both from your question and from the pop culture that I use to answer it. By making the question appear vaguely ridiculous, I can avoid addressing it by making myself superior to it.

Employee council continues to explore servant leadership

Emory's Employee Council hosted its first servant leadership brown bag lunch with a presentation by Bob Haskell, who is leading a seven year process of transforming the organizational culture of Emory's Facilities Management Division. There was standing room only at the March 2 event.

EASL prepares for summer internships

The second summer of Servant Leadership internships is coming soon! Over thirty students have applied for the ten summer internships. Students receive a stipend of $2500 for the internships.

Ten students will be funded to work for eight weeks with a community partner and be part of the weekly EASL reflection group. The program follows excellent reviews by both student participants and placement site mentors.

Welcome to our first email-only newsletter

For some time, the Center for Ethics has published ethics news & views as a semiannual, print publication. But there is much that goes on between our January and September editions.

One proposed solution has been to publish more frequently, say once a month or once a quarter. While there would certainly be plenty to say, the cost in time and resources is prohibitive at this point, and the ethics of printing on more paper need to be taken into account too.