Philosophy professor headlines Centenary's Forum with consumer ethics discussion

Randolph philosophy professor David Schwartz is taking the message of consumer ethics to Shreveport, Louisiana. Tonight, Schwartz will lead a discussion at Centenary College of Louisiana on the topic of the responsibility consumers have to be informed about the ethical practices of the companies whose products they purchase.

The college invited Schwartz to speak for Centenary’s Forum, an annual event that explores social issues. In conjunction with the event, Schwartz wrote an opinion article for the Shreveport Times and asked readers to contemplate the ethical question of whether to purchase shirts made and embroidered by slaves.

Schwartz is the author of Consuming Choices: Ethics in a Global Consumer Age, which explains the ethical questions consumers face and offers a guide in making ethical choices.

Society for Business Ethics picks Randolph philosophy professor's book as topic of upcoming event

A Randolph philosophy professor’s book that probes the ethics of consumer choices will be featured in a conference in February.

David Schwartz

The Society for Business Ethics chose to discuss Consuming Choices by David Schwartz in its “Author Meets Critic” forum at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division). Schwartz will give a talk about the book, followed by a discussion by two distinguished ethics scholars, Alastair Norcross (University of Colorado – Boulder) and Richard F. Galvin (Texas Christian University).

Schwartz was invited to participate by a professor who had read the book and used it as a textbook. This attention to Consuming Choices is an honor to Schwartz.

“One of my goals in writing this book was to write something that would be reputable to the scholars but accessible to the non-scholars,” Schwartz said. “This is an indication that it’s reputable to the scholars and that people seem to be reading it and finding it useful.”

Consuming Choices guides readers through a discussion of the ethical implications of purchasing decisions. For several decades, business ethicists have discussed whether companies have moral obligations. Schwartz’s book argues that the real moral obligation belongs not to companies, but to their customers.

Consuming Choices was chosen as the topic
for the Society for Business Ethics' "Author
Meets Critic" forum in February.

“It’s up to the consumer to decide what they were comfortable buying,” Schwartz said. “The businesses are going to feel market pressure to change one way or another.”

He started writing Consuming Choices about food and farming, but his topics expanded to include the moral implications of environmental harm, poor working conditions, and animal cruelty in the supply chain for products we purchase.

He said people should be wary of extremely inexpensive items. “If it’s too good to be true,” then someone is being taken advantage of somewhere, Schwartz said.

While it may be impossible to know everything that happens in the creation of a product, consumers have an obligation not to be “willfully ignorant” of the moral implications of their products. Websites such as CorpWatch and The Good Guide can help people learn about how their products are made.

“I’m hoping that this gets on people’s radar and gets them thinking about this idea,” Schwartz said. “I’m fairly confident that if people just have some awareness of this issue, they’ll do fine with making these decisions.”

Students Compete in Ethics Bowl

Front row: (l-r) Wyatt Phipps '13, Lindsay Wood '11, Caleb Moxley '11, Rhiannon Knol '11. Second row: (l-r) Susan Klein, Randolph College President John E. Klein

Four Randolph College students participated in the 12th annual statewide collegiate Wachovia Ethics Bowl on February 13-14, on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk/Virginia Beach.

The Randolph College team competed head-to-head against other highly qualified student teams from Virginia’s 14 leading independent colleges and universities, debating a variety of case studies highlighting privacy-based dilemmas. The Randolph College student team members were Rhiannon Knol ’11, Caleb Moxley ’11, Wyatt Phipps ’13, and Lindsay Wood ’11.

Faculty sponsors for the team were Gordon Steffey, assistant professor of religion, and Laura-Gray Street, assistant professor of Engllish.

Many notables from the business sector, law, education, finance, journalism, and other fields listened to team presentations and offer reactions to the students’ presentations.

The event was sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC).

Founded in 1952, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges is a nonprofit fund-raising partnership supporting the programs and students of 15 leading independent colleges in the Commonwealth: Bridgewater College, Emory & Henry College, Hampden-Sydney College, Hollins University, Lynchburg College, Mary Baldwin College, Marymount University, Randolph College, Randolph-Macon College, Roanoke College, Shenandoah University, Sweet Briar College, University of Richmond, Virginia Wesleyan College and Washington & Lee University. For additional information on the VFIC, visit www.vfic.org.