We address the question: what can experience of narrative film bring to a business student? The medium of narrative film allows discussions of ethical issues, as well as discussions of film as a product in terms of its artistic creativity versus its business goal and its marketing of an underlying ideological position. Hence, we look at films from philosophical (ethical), aesthetic (artistic), and business perspectives. We describe the effort and the outcome of delivering a new course in the business undergraduate (...) program at the College of Business at Stony Brook University in New York, USA. The course was entitled Ethics: Critical Thinking through Film and it was designed to address various business and societal problems through narrative films. A diverse set of films allowed us to discuss questions about problems facing contemporary society, as well as ethical issues arising in business, including workforce ethics, greediness, bribery, whistle-blowing, and fraud. (shrink)

The case describes the developments of an ethics code observed in the local government of Suffolk County, New York, USA. In Suffolk County, there is now a dedicated Board of Ethics Agency (“Board”) within the local government to ensure that business operations and government operations run as ethically compliant as possible. This Board was created in 2012 in order to follow compliance with a law that established a replacement for the Ethics Commission (previously existing within Suffolk County) because this Ethics (...) Commission had been involved in a serious controversy. The former County Executive, Steve Levy, was found guilty of compromising the “integrity of an ethics commission”. Suffolk County government prescribed various measures in order to ensure that the citizens of Suffolk County were protected from business ethical violations. The Board also preemptively created laws that discouraged businesses from acting unethically. (shrink)

The scope of this book is the characterization of the template for the properly aesthetic experience, composed of the prerequisite and the three subsequent phases: excess, pause, and recuperation.

This book considers ethical issues arising in professional and business settings and the role of individuals making decisions and coping with moral dilemmas. It starts by elaborating on critical thinking and on normative ethical theories, subsequently presenting the structure and cinematic elements of narrative film. These two avenues are tools for evaluating films and for discussions on various ethical problems in contemporary business, including: the corporate and banking financial machinations (greed, fraud, social responsibility); workplace ethical challenges (harassment, violence, inequity, inequality); (...) professional and business ethical challenges (corruption, whistleblowing, outsourcing and downsizing); and personal responsibility and identity challenges due to career pressures, loss of privacy and cyber harassment, and job structure changes in light of changing technology. Readers can benefit from engagement in filmic narratives, as a simulated environment for developing a stance towards ethical challenges. (shrink)

The book analyzes the intertwining of aesthetics and ethics in experiences characterized by a break of representational capabilities, such as encounters with nature and art. It also notes that the prerequisite for such an experience concerns expectations and authenticity, and the aftermath engenders wonderment and sublimity, as a common root to aesthetic and ethics. Various philosophical positions and interpretation and contextualization of material is achieved via sections with art examples.