1. a. Do you think it is important for our character development to have heroes in our lives? Explain.
b. Do you think we have fewer heroes today than in the past? Explain.
2. A Business & Media Institute study entitled Bad Company looked at the top 12 television dramas from May and November 2005, including shows like CSI and Desperate Housewives. Thirty- nine episodes featured business-related plots, and among those shows, 77 percent projected unfavorable images of business. The Law & Order episodes, for example, had businessmen committing almost 50 percent of the felonies—mostly murders.
a. Do you think those depictions significantly harm the image of the business community? Explain.
3. “You are being considered for a promotion. Would you flirt with your boss or someone else who can help you get the job?” Money Magazine asked this and other ethics questions in a national poll of 1,000 adults. Answer the flirting question, then go online to see how your answer compared with the poll response: “Money and Ethics: How You Stack Up,” CNNMoney.com
4. Kansas City Royals pitcher Gil Meche, 32 years old and troubled by a shoulder injury, decided in 2011 to retire from baseball. The decision would not be considered particularly newsworthy beyond the sports pages except that Meche passed up the $ 12 million final year of his contract by doing so. Others in similar situations have reported to spring training, gone through the motions and collected their big paychecks. Meche said, “When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it. Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad.” Meche thought he had already earned enough from the Royals: “Making that amount of money from a team that’s already given me over $ 40 million for my life and for my kids, it just wasn’t the right thing to do.”
a. Was Meche employing utilitarian or formalist reasoning? Explain.