PHIL 270 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Blood Donation, Late Fee, Consideration
4 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PHIL 270: Business Ethics
2.01 Lecture Notes
· Definition of market: Voluntary exchange of goods and services for valuable consideration
o May include information asymmetry and externalities, but the exchange is at least minimally
voluntary
· Sandel false conceives of economics just about money and selfishness
o Whereas it is about trade
o Money is merely a medium of exchange
· “adel: Market ehage a lead to…
o Corruption of our own character virtues or the good itself
▪ Sale of some things is either intrinsically detrimental to the person, but also the
commodity
▪ Ex: friendship
o Fairness – sometimes market exchanges are taking place behind the backdrop of extremely
unfair situations or create inequality
▪ Ex: slaves are free and now their free to exchange = unfair outcome because of unfair
starting point
o Sandel seems to think that markets are increasingly intrusive
▪ 1970s in particular – the welfare state hit its peak – led to persistently high
unemployment and high levels of unproductivity
▪ In the 1980s, there was a movement to decentralize and deregulate, move towards
markets
· Examples that Sandel gives/discussion examples
o Prostitutes
▪ Fully voluntary ------------ fully involuntary
▪ Choosing to become a prostitute is towards the involuntary side of the spectrum
▪ Corruption – not a meaningful act for either the man or the prostitute
▪ What is the definition of voluntary? (what about manipulation of mass marketing?)
• If given more options, they would take another option?
▪ We’e gotte ore ad etter optios at this present time than any other time in
history (hmm)
o Picking strawberries for $4/hour
▪ If the border was closed and Mexican laborers were coerced not to cross the border,
would they be better off?
▪ No, so e should’t reall sa that the are oered to pik strawberries
o College admissions (legacy admissions)
▪ Is there a tradeoff between fairness and other values?
▪ Social function: research and development (public goods benefits)
▪ Private/club goods
▪ Social mobility function
▪ Being the child of a parent who excelled at the school is weak evidence, but evidence,
that the child will be good at school
▪ Can argue that universities are not ONLY about academics – hard to argue that the
uiersit’s poliies are ufair if ost people are akig olutar hoies aout
colleges based on various considerations (athletics, music, etc.)
▪ Depends on the transparency of the school regarding its policies
· Sandel: Markets can crowd out altruism
o True to some extent
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