Philosophy 1120: Professional Ethics

Online
Fall 2018

Instructor
Ryan Fanselow, Ph.D.
5057 Woodward Ave. (Maccabees)
Rm. 12205.62
E-mail: ryan.fanselow@wayne.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 1:15-2:15, and by appointment

Course Description
Most college students will enter the labor market after college and become a certain type
of worker, a professional. Professionals differ from other workers in that their work
requires extensive training and is either entirely intellectual or involves a significant
intellectual component. Lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, pharmacists, counselors,
journalists, and accountants are all professionals in this sense.

While professionals undoubtedly provide important benefits to society, the status of being
a professional raises a number of ethical questions. For instance, the relationship
between professionals and their clients is usually asymmetric in that professionals
possess a large body of knowledge that their clients lack. This makes it possible for
professionals to easily deceive their clients. Is this ever morally permissible? What if it
is for the client’s benefit? Furthermore, professionals are usually in a position to do quite
a bit of good or harm to the world. Does this mean that they are obligated to do good,
even when doing so is not part of their explicit job description? What should
professionals do when complying with their client’s or employer’s wishes means harming
or failing to benefit the world at large? This class explores these and other ethical
questions raised by the existence of professionals.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students who complete this course should be able to:

• Define a range of philosophical terms and concepts associated with life and death
(e.g. personal identity, psychological continuity, intrinsic good, extrinsic good)
• Apply these terms and concepts to philosophical problems associated with life
and death
• Identify the thesis and premises in a philosophical essay
• Analyze a philosophical argument into its constituent premises and conclusion
• Compose a cogent philosophical essay that defends a clear thesis
• Evaluate a philosophical argument for soundness and validity

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 Textbook
The textbook for this course is Clancy Martin, Wayne Vaught, & Robert C. Solomon
(eds.), Ethics Across the Professions: A Reader for Professional Ethics 2nd ed. (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2017).

Grades
Grades will be decided as follows:
15% Participation
15% Homework Assignments
15% Weekly quizzes
20% Argument Analysis and Critical Discussion
20% Term Paper
15% Final
The instructor reserves the right to fail any student who does not pass the final exam.

Grading Scale
If your score (Score) is….: your grade will be
Score ≥93%: A
90%≤ Score <93%: A-
87%≤ Score <90%: B+
83%≤ Score <87%: B
80%≤ Score <83%: B-
77%≤ Score <80%: C+
73%≤ Score <77%: C
70%≤ Score <73%: C-
67%≤ Score <70%: D+
63%≤ Score <67%: D
60%≤ Score <63%: D-
Score <60%: F

Reading and Lectures

There are usually two readings each week (see schedule below). There will always be a
few video lectures that correspond to the relevant readings. Students should begin their
week by doing the reading and watching the relevant lectures. Most of the readings are
in the textbook but some are on Blackboard. Lectures will be posted on the first day of
the week (see schedule below).

Quizzes
Starting on the second week, the instructor will post an online quiz on the first day of
each week. Quizzes consist of ten multiple choice questions and must be finished by
Sunday at 11:59pm. They are open note and open book. Students can take them at any
time during the week but once a student opens a quiz – they will only have fifteen
minutes to complete it. There will be no makeup quizzes for any reason, ever. For this
reason, I strongly recommend NOT waiting until the last minute to take the quizzes. If
you face a technical difficulty (e.g. your computer crashes), take the quiz again
immediately and email the instructor immediately. I will count your second attempt if

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 and only if no grade was recorded for your first quiz. This means that your second
attempt will not count if there is a score recorded for your first attempt

Homework Assignments
On certain weeks, students will have homework assignments (see schedule below). They
are always due by Sunday at 11:59pm.

Discussion
On other weeks, students will be required to contribute to class discussion. Students will
be assigned to groups and each week we have a disussion assignment, each student will
be assigned a specific role in their group. Most roles require two posts. The first post
will be due on Wednesday at 11:59 and the second on Sunday at 11:59. Late posts will
only receive half credit. Please do the minimum posts in your own group. After that,
students are free to post in other groups..

Argument Analysis and Critical Discussion

On Novemnber 11, all students will be required to turn in a 250-500 word argument
analysis of a paper of their choosing (anything assigned in the course), accompanied by a
250-500 word critical discussion of the argument. The critical discussion should raise
substantive criticisms of the argument being discussed. Does the author argue from false
premises? Do her premises not entail her conclusion? Are there potential objections to
the argument that the author does not consider?

Term Papers
After receiving feedback on the argument analysis and critical discussion from the
instructor, the student will turn her argument analysis and critical discussion into a 750-
1,250 word term paper on December 9. Papers will be evaluated as follows:

An A paper advances an interesting and clearly stated thesis. The student provides
rigorous arguments for the thesis that go beyond what was said in lecture and the reading.
In addition, an A paper contains virtually no stylistic or interpretive errors.

A B paper advances an interesting and clearly stated thesis. The student provides
arguments for the thesis in question. A B paper does not contain any major interpretive
or stylistic errors, though some minor ones will be tolerated.

A C paper demonstrates competence with the core concepts in the course. A C paper
may contain major interpretive or stylistic errors. A paper that does not advance a thesis
will not score any higher than a C.

Any paper that does not demonstrate competence with the core concepts in the course
will receive a D or an F.

Late papers will be subject to a penalty of one third of a grade per day. Thus, an A paper
turned in one day late will receive an A-. The same paper turned in two days late will
receive a B+, etc.

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 Final Exam
The final exam will be take home, open book and open note, and consist of essay
questions.

Special Circumstances
Occasionally students face special circumstances that force them to miss a test or an
assignment (e.g. illness, death in the family, etc.). If such circumstances do occur and it
is physically possible to notify the instructor in advance of the test or due date of the
assignment, then the student must do so. If the student does not notify the instructor in
advance and it was physically possible for them to do so, the instructor will not grant a
makeup exam and standard penalties will apply on papers. If the student does notify the
instructor in advance and she or he has a legitimate university approved excuse, the
instructor will do his best to accommodate the student, in so far as this can be done in a
way that is fair to other students.

Academic Dishonesty
Students should familiarize themselves with the Student Code of Conduct
(http://doso.wayne.edu/student-conduct/index.html). In the event that the code is
violated, the instructor will, at minimum, fail the student in the course. The instructor
reserves the right to seek other penalties if they are appropriate.

The most common honor code violations in this course involve plagiarism, the taking of
another author’s ideas or language without credit. Any ideas or language, whether taken
verbatim or paraphrased, must be cited.

In addition, sharing one’s work either by posting it online or giving it to another student
constitutes academic dishonesty and is grounds for failure in the course.

Schedule
Readings marked with a * will be posted to the course website. All other readings can
be found in the textbook.

Week 1 – 8/29-9/2
Reading: Syllabus
Assignment: Introduction Discussion Post. No quiz this week.

Week 2: 9/3-9/9
Reading: Smith, “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs”*
Lewis, “The Inner Ring”*
Assignment: Identify the thesis of Lewis, “The Inner Ring”.
-Quote the thesis, provide a page number for the quote, and summarize the quote
in your own words (1-2 sentences.)

Week 3: 9/10-9/16
Reading: Wasserstrom, “Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues” (pp. 24-33)

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 Bayles, “The Professional-Client Relationship” (pp. 106-113)
Assignment: Discussion Post #1

Week 4: 9/17-9/23
Reading: Stein, “Lying and Deception for Counselors and Clients” (pp. 217-221)
Collins, “Should Doctors Tell the Truth?” (pp. 211-217)
Assignment: Identify the thesis of Collins, “Should Doctors Tell the Truth?”.
-Quote the thesis, provide a page number for the quote, and summarize the
quote in your own words (1-2 sentences.)
-Identify the two main reasons that Collins give for his thesis.

Week 5: 9/24-9/30
Reading: Bok, “Lying and Lies to the Sick and Dying” [pp. 202-209 only]
Robinson III, “Opinion in Cantebury v. Spence” (pp. 152-158)
Assignment: Identify the thesis of Robinson, “Opinion in Canterbury v. Spence”
-Quote the thesis, provide a page number for the quote, and summarize the
quote in your own words (1-2 sentences.)
Identify the premises of Robinson’s argument.

Week 6: 10/1-10/7
Reading: Corvino, “Under God’s Authority” (pp. 484-490)
Assignment: Discussion Post #2

Week 7: 10/8-10/14
Reading: Appiah, “Racisms”*
Jost et. al., “The Existence of Implicit Bias is Beyond Reasonable Doubt”*
Assignment: Take an implicit attitude test at:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Discussion Post #3

Week 8: 10/15-21
Reading: Steele, “Stereotype Threat and Black College Students”
Pojman, “The Case Against Affirmative Action”*
Assignment: – Identify the conclusion of one argument discussed by Pojman, “The Case
Against Affirmative Action” (the lettered sections)
-Quote the thesis, provide a page number for the quote, and summarize the
quote in your own words (1-2 sentences.)
-Identify premises of the argument.

Week 9: 10/22-10/28
Reading: White, “Is Being a White Supremacist Grounds for Firing?”*
Friedersdorf, “How to Win Friends and Stigmatize Nazis”*
Singer, “Why Google Was Wrong”*
Assignment: Discussion Post #4

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 Week 10: 10/29-11/4
Reading: Singer, “Rich and Poor” (pp. 382-385)
Singer, “What Should Billionaires Give and What Should You?” (pp. 385-393)
Assignment: Identify the thesis of Singer, “Rich and Poor”
-Quote the thesis, provide a page number for the quote, and summarize the
quote in your own words (1-2 sentences.)
Identify the premises of Singer’s argument

Week 11: 11/5-11/11

Reading: Friedman, “The Social Responsible of Business is to Increase its Profits”
Arrow, “Social Responsibility and Economic Efficiency” (pp. 48-484)
Assignment: Argument Analysis and Critical Discussion Due (see above)

Week 12: 11/12-11/18

Reading: Orlando, “The Ethics of Corporate Downsizing”
Reading: Donagan, “Justifying Legal Practice in the Adversary System: A Look at
Confidentiality” (pp. 272-277)
Assignment: Discussion Post #5

11/19-11/25: Thanksgiving – No Class

Week 13: 11/26-12/2

Reading: Duska, “Whistleblowing and Employee Loyalty” (pp. 317-321)
Davis, “Some Paradoxes of Whistleblowing” (pp. 311-316)
Assignment: Discussion Post #6

Week 14: 12/3-12/9

Reading: McFall, “Integrity” (pp. 325-328)
Calhoun, “Standing for Something” (pp. 329-331)
Assignment: Term Paper Due

Final Exam Week:

Take-home essay final distributed on Monday December 10 and due on Friday,
December 14.

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