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Moral Reasoning: From Machiavelli to The Bomb to AI (MORE)

Faculty:

Joshua Lewis

Subject Areas:

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Description

How did President Harry Truman decide to drop The Bomb and did he get it right? Machiavelli’s The Prince is among the most influential leadership tracts ever written, but is it a handbook for leaders or a rationalization of thuggery? How did Katharine Graham, Publisher of the Washington Post, think about the business risks and ethical dilemmas involved in defying a lawless President? Do AI deployment decisions have moral elements? This course introduces students to the tools required to grapple with complex dilemmas with moral dimensions, and to lead an organization through them. It is both abstract, in that it explores complex questions and philosophical frameworks, and quite practical, in that it deals with the types of challenges that business leaders actually face. MORE’s objective is to enable students to better navigate the challenges of the business world and the complexities of life as it is actually lived. Course content includes renowned fiction, autobiography, journalism, moral philosophy, history, and film. MORE is a humanities course designed for a business school. In addition to the business-oriented objectives noted above it is designed to provide tools for critical thinking, for finding the right questions, and for challenging assumptions and conventional wisdom – all required to grapple with complex problems. It is not a course in what to know – more an exercise in ways to think. While success in business requires both hard skills and soft skills, over a 30+ year career in venture capital and private equity I found that this third type of skills, which the study of humanities can provide so effectively, was often more valuable. Students wishing to know more are encouraged to review this long-form course description, and to speak directly to T'27 TAs Keleche Akalonu, Anna Baird, and Chris Burton. Students are also encouraged to visit the instructor’s website, which discusses the course and includes a link to this Tuck podcast.