Please consider supporting the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship for 2012. See our Campaign 2012 page for details about our first four years’ accomplishments and our future plans.

CEE Professor Shawn Klein has a new course for Spring 2012: Ideas of Liberty in Modern Philosophy. Our ideas about liberty and individual freedom have their roots in the thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Students will explore these ideas in the influential works of Hobbes, Locke, Smith, Burke, and other modern thinkers.

View a PDF of the flyer here.

View a PDF of all the Spring 2012 Philosophy courses.

CEE Professor Shawn Klein announced a call for abstracts for the First Annual Rockford College Sports Studies Symposium on his Who Needs Philosophy blog. From the announcement:

Call for Abstracts

1st Annual Rockford College Sports Studies Symposium:
An interdisciplinary conference on the study of Sport.
Date: April 28, 2012

Rockford College
5050 E. State. St.
Rockford, IL 61073

Whether one is a participant, a casual spectator, a die-hard fan, or a critic, sport, in all its varieties and forms, play a significant role in the lives of most people through out the world. Sports and competitions have long been a part of human civilization and raise a wide range of important philosophical and ethical issues.

This symposium will bring together a panel of scholars to discuss philosophical themes or issues arising in the study of Sport. The focus of the panel will depend, in part, on the submitted abstracts. Each presenter on a panel will have 20 minutes for their presentation. This will be followed by 10-15 minutes for panelists to respond to each other and then 15 minutes or more for audience Q&A. There will also be a panel on the Rhetoric of Sport.

Abstract Submission:
Submissions are welcome on any philosophical theme or issue arising in the study of Sport. Abstract should be 300-500 words. Send via email (as PDF) to sklein_at_rockford_dot_edu.

Deadline: January 6th, 2012
Notification of Acceptance: February 1st, 2012

If you have any questions, please contact Shawn Klein (Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department) at 815-226-4115 or sklein_at_rockford_dot_edu or Michael Perry (Assistant Professor, English Department) at 815-226-4098 or mperry_at_rockford_dot_edu.

Rockford College students can see the new Atlas Shrugged movie on Saturday, May 7 at 7:15 PM for free, courtesy of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. We are only covering the tickets, not concessions or transportation. 

The film is playing at Wildwood Theaters in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Please arrive by 7:00. Look for Professor Stephen Hicks or Professor Shawn Klein.

Click here to see the theater’s location and to get directions.

Professors Matt Flamm and Shawn Klein are heading this Spring’s Reading Group, which starts this Friday, January 28:

In The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche analyzes artistic expression, focusing on Greek tragedy.  In On the Genealogy of Morals (1887) Nietzsche traces out the “origin of our moral prejudices,” identifying “slave morality” (exemplified by Christian values) and its opposite, “master morality” (exemplified by Ancient Greek and Roman values).

Each meeting will take place at the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship office on the second floor of Burpee, from 3-4 pm. There will be light refreshments. A free copy of the book will be provided to participants. This group is open to all members of the college community.

Dates:

Jan 28: Introduction

Feb 11: Birth of Tragedy 1

Feb 25 Birth of Tragedy 2

Mar 18: Genealogy 1

Apr 8: Genealogy 2

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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