Professors Shawn Klein and Matt Flamm are conducting a new reading group this semester on Plato’s works on the trial and death of Socrates. From the flyer:

In 399 BCE, Athens executed Socrates for impiety and corrupting the youth. Plato immortalized the trial and death of Socrates in his dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. These are not merely historical dialogues, but philosophical treatises that examine the nature of piety, philosophy, justice, and death. The Reading Group will discuss each of these dialogues and the philosophical issues they raise.

Each meeting will take place at the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship office on the second floor of Burpee, from 1-2pm. There will be light refreshments. A free copy of the book will be provided to participants.

Dates:
September 10: Overview and Introduction
September 17: Euthyphro
October 1: Apology
November 5: Crito
November 19: Phaedo

Philosophy professor Shawn Klein has successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation. Congratulations to Dr. Klein! More information about Professor Klein here: http://www.ethicsandentrepreneurship.org/professor-shawn-klein/

In our latest issue of Kaizen we feature an interview with John Chisholm, founder of Decisive Technology, a pioneer in online survey software (and now part of Google), and CustomerSat, a leading provider of enterprise feedback management systems (now part of MarketTools).

Also featured in Kaizen are: this semester’s Introduction to Philosophy student essay contest winners – Bronson Garcia, Mona Khalifeh, and Erica Price; Guest Speaker William Kline; and news about our professors.

A PDF version of Kaizen is available here. We will soon post separately the full interview with Mr. Chisholm.

If you would like to receive a complimentary issue of the print version of Kaizen, please email your name and postal address to CEE [at] Rockford.edu.

An article in The Sacramento Bee explores the line between ethical and unethical uses of performance-enhancing technology in sports, focusing on the recent controversy over pro golfer Phil Mickelson’s wedge choice at Torrey Pines. The article features a quote from CEE Professor Shawn Klein on the issue.

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Read the article here.

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And, watch Professor Klein talk about his popular Sports Ethics course in the video below:

During the Fall 2009 semester, CEE sponsored two essay contests. Cash prizes were awarded to the first place winners and honorable mentions in each contest. The essays were judged on their accuracy and depth of interpretation and their independence of thought.

The first contest was held in Professor Stephen Hicks’s Introduction to Philosophy course. Students were asked to write about the truth or falsity of the following Shakespeare line from Act II of Hamlet: “This above all: to thine own self be true / And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” Students related this line to one or more of their course books — Plato’s Apology and Crito, Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, and René Descartes’ Meditations. Congratulations to our five winners!

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The second contest was held in Professor Shawn Klein’s Business and Economics Ethics course. Students were asked to defend or criticize the following claim made by the character Gordon Gecko in the movie Wall Street: “Greed, in all of its forms—greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge—has marked the upward surge of mankind.” Congratulations to our three winners!

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In our latest issue of Kaizen we feature an interview with David Checketts, former CEO of New York’s Madison Square Garden, and now Chairman of SCP Worldwide, which owns the St. Louis Blues of the NHL and the Major League Soccer team Real Salt Lake.

Also featured are a course-development project by Professor Bill Lewis, a paper given by Professor Shawn Klein at a sports ethics conference, and an international conference organized and hosted by Professor J. J. Asongu.

A PDF version of Kaizen is available here. We will soon post separately the full interview with Mr. Checketts.

If you would like to receive a complimentary issue of the print version of Kaizen, please email your name and postal address to CEE [at] Rockford.edu.

Rockford College philosophy professor Shawn Klein was quoted in Brendan I. Koerner’s Mr. Know-It-All column in Wired Magazine’s April 2009 issue. Klein responded to a question concerning losing and humiliation in sports competitions. He has a follow-up to the article on his blog. Professor Klein will be offering his sports ethics course again during the Fall 2009 semester.

To be offered in the Fall 2008 semester. In this course students will consider a range of ethical, political, and economic issues about sports: Why are sports so universally popular? What physical and psychological values do they provide? Does the playing of sports develop good character? Why are many sports fans so fanatical? What is the proper place of sports in higher education? Is there anything wrong with ticket-”scalping”? How should mega-sports complexes be funded—politically or through the market? See the Sports Ethics flyer.

Philosophy Professor Shawn Klein, co-editor of Harry Potter and Philosophy, will be speaking at a colloquium at Tufts University in Massachusetts, his alma mater, on the theme Why Take Harry Seriously?

Update: Here’s a Tufts Daily article about the talk and Professor Klein’s web log entry.

Rockford College, the Department of Philosophy, and The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship are proud to welcome our new professor of philosophy, Shawn Klein.

Professor Klein received his Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in Massachusetts in 1995, obtained his Master’s in Philosophy from Arizona State University in 2001, and he is completing his Ph.D. at Arizona State.

Professor Klein’s specialty is normative ethics. In addition to his various publications, he is the coeditor of Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, published by Open Court in 2004.

For more information about professor Klein and the courses he will be teaching, view the announcement in PDF format.