Outstreched arm

Monday, April 09, 2007

Business ethics

It's awful to read a philosophy paper and walk away from it with nought but a joke, but I assure you that I got more than the following from Daniel Dennett's "Cognitive Science as Reverse Engineering: Several Meanings of "Top-Down" and "Bottom-Up". And even if I hadn't, one horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms, right?

The philosopher Samuel Alexander was hard of hearing in his old age and used an ear trumptet. One day a colleague came up to him in the common room at Manchester University and attempted to introduce a visiting American philosopher to him. "THIS IS PROFESSOR JONES, FROM AMERICA!" he bellowed into the ear trumpet. "Yes, Yes, Jones, from America," echoed Alexander, smiling. "HE'S A PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ETHICS!" continued the colleague. "What?" replied Alexander. "BUSINESS ETHICS!" "What? Professor of what?" "PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ETHICS!" Alexander shook his head and gave up: "Sorry. I can't get it. Sounds just like 'business ethics'!"

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