PHI 2604 Topics for Midterm

(Find summary of topics for Chapters 1-3 here)

Chapter 4

1- Historic background of Capitalism
2- Key Features of Capitalism (companies, profit motive, competition, private property).
3- Moral Justifications of Capitalism (Natural Right to Property, Adam Smith’s Concept of the Invisible Hand)
4- Critiques of Capitalism (Inequality, Human Nature and Capitalism, Capitalism breeding Oligopolies, Exploitation and Alienation)
5- Declining Interests in Production

Chapter 5

1- LLC
2- Meanings of Moral Responsibility
3- Corporations and Moral Decisions
4- Narrow View of Corporate Responsibility
5- Broader View of Corporate Responsibility
6- Invisible Hand argument
7- Do-It-Government argument
8- Inept Custodian argument
9- Materialization of Society
10- Four-point guideline for companies to follow a "broader view"

Chapter 6

1- Hiring (Screening): Job description, job specification
2- Tests: Aptitude, Personality, Skill Tests
3- Interviews (how should they be conducted)
4- Promotions: Tensions between seniority and qualifications
5- Inbreeding
6- Discipline and Discharge: “just cause” and “due process”
7- Wages p. 289
8- History of the Union Movement
9- Direct Strike, Sympathetic Strike, Boycotts