Learning through Disagreement offers practical instruction in how to locate underlying assumptions and values so as to identify points of overlap that can serve as building blocks for agreement. Three key ethical approaches are concisely presented, not as abstract theories but as tools for good decision making. Realistic examples of common workplace disagreements are discussed, and detachable perforated worksheets for individual or group use are interspersed throughout.
Comments
“Learning through Disagreement is an excellent auxiliary text for any business ethics course. The book's dialogical (as opposed to debating) orientation is a refreshingly constructive approach to dealing with contentious issues in the subject. The result is a most useful tool for facilitating fruitful student discussions.” — Gary James Jason, California State University, Fullerton
“As a management professor, I enjoy employing a variety of classroom activities and experiential exercises that help my students enhance their critical thinking skills. Challenging their underlying assumptions and biases—and working through them—is necessary for effective ethical decision making. Learning through Disagreement is a great addition to a student’s management and leadership toolkit.” — Laquita Blockson, Saint Leo University
Preface: About this Workbook
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE: A Dialogical Approach
- Worksheet 1-1: Dialogical Capacity
Worksheet 1-2: Engaging in Dialogue
CHAPTER TWO: Resources for Making Better Decisions
- Table 2.1: Resources for Making Decisions
Identifying Resources for Making Decisions
Table 2.2: Steps Involved in Sharing Resources
Creating Valid Syllogisms
Exploring Assumptions
Table 2.3: Sample Argument
Worksheet 2-1: Sorting Out Different Resources
Worksheet 2-2: Discovering Implicit Value Judgments
Worksheet 2-3: Developing Valid Syllogisms
Worksheet 2-4: Assumptions about Ourselves
Worksheet 2-5: Uncovering Assumptions
Worksheet 2-6: Discovering the Resources of Alternative Views
CHAPTER THREE: Engaging in an Ethical Analysis of Human Action
- The Visionary, the Judge, and the Assessor
The Ethics of Purpose
The Ethics of Principle
Table 3.1: Principles of Distributive Justice
The Ethics of Consequence
Applying an Ethics of Purpose
Applying an Ethics of Principle
Applying an Ethics of Consequence
Developing the Modified Proposal
Worksheet 3-1: Applying an Ethics of Purpose
Worksheet 3-2: Applying an Ethics of Principle
Worksheet 3-3: Applying an Ethics of Consequence
CHAPTER FOUR: Doing the Work
- Working Offline
Working Online
Developing Argumentative Dialogues
A Sample Argumentative Dialogue on Worker Cooperatives
Worksheet 4-1: An Outline for Your Argumentative Dialogues
Glossary
Marvin T. Brown teaches in the Department of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of several books, including Corporate Integrity: Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership and Civilizing the Economy: A New Economics of Provision.
