Study Guide for Exam 2

I. Duska's "Whistle-Blowing and Employee Loyalty"

Central Question: When is it morally permissible to blow the whistle?

• Be able to explain precisely what an act of whistle-blowing actually is.
• Be able to explain precisely why Duska rejects loyalty constraints against acts of whistle-blowing.
• Be able to articulate Duska's conception of loyalty.
• Be able to explain Duska's distinction between DEVOTION TO ONE'S JOB and DEVOTION TO ONE'S COMPANY.
• Be able to explain what Duska takes to be the nature of our obligations to our corporate employers.
• Be able to provide an evaluative commentary on Duska's positions.

II. Davis' "Conflicts of Interest

• Be able to construct a CONFLICTS OF INTEREST case. Diagrams are lovely.
• Be able to identify potential moral problems associated with conflicts of interest cases. What is the (alleged) moral problem with conflicts of interest cases.
• Be able to identify whether a specific case (perhaps one provided by me) contains a conflict of interest. Be able to support your position with an argument--perhaps even a diagram.
• Be able to state Margolis' analysis of a conflict of interest.
• Be able to state Davis' Preliminary General Analysis of a conflict of interest.
• Be able to present an argument demonstrating either that the Margolis analysis of a conflict of interest is superior to Davis' analysis, or vice versa.

III. Baram's "Trade Secrets: What Price Loyalty"

• Be able to describe the Goodrich-Donnie "W" trade secret controversy. Be able to describe what Goodrich did to Donnie "W", what Donnie "W" did, the legal action that Goodrich took against Donnie "W", and the court's decision regarding the matter.
• Be able to state the phenomena responsible for trade secret controversies.
• Be able to state the two basic competing moral issues in trade secret cases. (You can find this on the first full paragraph in the "Common-Law Concepts" section on p. 281.)
• Be able to explain how Baram evaluates the contractual constraints "solution" to trade secrets cases.
• Be able to explain which policies Baram suggests that we adopt in efforts to prevent trade secrets cases from materializing.
• Be able to provide an evaluative commentary on Baram's positions.