Homework 2

Case 1: John is told by any Army recruiter that if he, John, were to enlist in the Army, he would be trained as a fire engineer, which would enable him to be readily employed by corporate America after his term in the Army has ended. John enlists, takes a series of interest and aptitude tests, and is assigned to be the chaplain’s assistant after basic training. Does John’s assignment diminish his freedom?


Case 2: After getting out of the Army at the age of 22, John decides to go to college. He considers four or five different schools and decides that he wants to go to Fort Hayes State University. After he enrolls he finds out that he has to take a course in Personal Wellness in order to graduate. He hates the very thought of it. Does the requirement that John take Personal Wellness diminish his freedom?


Case 3: John and his brother Johann jointly own a 1957 Chevy. When John goes into the army, he tells Johann to do with the car as he sees fit. Johann falls in love with Johanna and gives her the car. She decides to smash the car with sledgehammers covered with cloth pieces designed “to make a statement.?John is horrified by the thought of what Johanna has done to the car. Does Johanna’s action diminish John’s freedom?


Case 4: John has voluntarily enlisted in the Army, when suddenly a war breaks out between the United States and Canada. John is ordered to round up all the Canadian citizens living in Hays, Kansas, for detention in a relocation camp. John regards this detention of otherwise innocent Canadian citizens as immoral. Does the requirement on John (the requirement that he participate in the round-up) diminish John’s freedom?

Exam 3

1. What are the important differences between two different types of freedom? Which type—or both—should you try to preserve if you are the manager of an organization? Why?


2. What are the obligations of professional to society? Why might it be especially hard for a journalist to fulfill these obligations?


3. Suppose that you have immigrated to the United States and become a citizen. Suppose that Congress passes a bill and the President signs it into law. Support this new law constrains my actions (it says, for example, that no one may wear shirts expressing approval of the Dallas Cowboys). Has this law restricted my freedom? Why or why not? How is this relevant to the freedom of an employee working within a larger organization?


4. Sometimes an organization may use extraordinary methods of gathering information about its employees. What are “extraordinary methods? Under what conditions can their use be justified?

Assignment

From: Reasoning and the Logic of Things by Charles Sanders Peirce Here we are in this workaday world . . . and we must look to see what little and definite task circumstances have set before our little strength to do. The performance of that task will require us to draw upon all our powers, reason included. And in the doing of it we should chiefly depend not upon that department of the soul which is most superficial and fallible, --- I mean our reason, --- but upon that department that is deep and sure, --- which is instinct. Instinct is capable of development and growth, --- though by a movement which is slow in proportion to which it is vital; and this development takes place upon lines which are altogether parallel to those of reasoning. And just as reasoning springs from experience, so the development of sentiment (instinct) arises from the soulís Inward and Outward Experiences (such as meditation, on the one hand, and adversity on the other).


Application, Willpower, and Attention: What is the difference? Application Most often attention is confused with a kind of muscular effort (Application). If one says to oneís pupils: ìNow you must pay attention,?one sees them contracting their brows, holding their breath, stiffening their muscles. If after two minutes they are asked what they have been paying attention to, they cannot reply. They have been concentrating on nothing. They have not been paying Attention. They have been contracting their muscles (practicing Application). We often expend this kind of muscular effort on our studies. As it ends by making us tired, we have the impression that we have been working. That is an illusion. Tiredness has nothing to do with work. Work itself is the useful effort, whether it is tiring or not. This kind of muscular effort in work is entirely barren, even if it is made with the best of intentions. Good intentions in such cases are among those that pave the way to hell. Studies conducted in such a way can sometimes succeed academically from the point of view of gaining marks and passing examinations, but that is in spite of the effort and thanks to natural gifts. . .