PHRL 498 (Religion & Philosophy Capstone) - Intellectual Autobiography: From Pre-existence to Existence to Essence

 Introduction

The day after Halloween in 1992, my father drove me to a farm on the other side of the Snake River to Fruitland, Idaho. My appointment was with a man named Chad Clark and he was to give me a Patriarchal blessing, which, for Mormons, acts as a type of life roadmap for a person, and which not only is to guide the individual in the future but also pronounces from whence that person came. In the opening paragraph of my blessing, I was informed, “Prior to your mortal birth you lived in the world of spirits. It was there that you prepared for mortality. You associated with many great and important spirits. You grew to maturity and exercised your free agency, made covenants and were foreordained to positions of responsibility that are being shown to you as you proceed through life.” Being born into Mormonism (officially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) meant my essence was defined before I even had a chance to consider it. Many aspects of this religion formed and shaped me, however, I came to a point, around the age of 38, where I felt it did not serve me well anymore. This would become the starting point of my philosophical exploration and journey.

I began seeing a therapist named Laura McPherson, who not only gave me the space to express my feeling and thoughts, but she also recognized and acknowledged that I work for, live in and associate with a Type A company, a Type A community and Type A religion, meaning these organizations’ and communities’ populations tend to be comprised of people who exhibit traits such as aggressiveness, competitiveness, ambitiousness and authoritarianism (Sissons, 2022). To manage the anxiety and stress of these environments, she taught me a number of techniques as informed by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This was my first pitstop in my philosophical journey. As I studied CBT, I found the linkages to Stoicism and how I could redirect my locus of control to within. This exploration sent me down a path of defining my true existence, as well as a deep dive into Hellenistic philosophy between the years of 2014 and 2021.

As I studied Stoicism, and in particular the idea of eternal recurrence (Durand et al., 2023), I came across references to Nietzsche’s doctrine of the same name (Wilkerson, n.d.) and how he used it as a litmus test to determine if an individual loves his fate and is living his best life. This discovery was the catalyst to widen my philosophic aperture to study not only Existentialism, but other philosophies. In 2021, I enrolled in American Public University (APU) and have since been studying philosophy and thinking about what my essence is and should be.

This essay will explore the three phases of my intellectual autobiography, with the first phase delving into Mormonism and my so-called pre-existence, phase two exploring Stoicism and how it helped me to delineate my existence, and phase three discovering Existentialism and how Nietzsche, Camus and Sartre have guided me to define my own meaning and essence.

Pre-existence and Mormonism

I was thrown into a Mormon family. Heidegger would say I was “never in control of [my] own being” and that I could not “determine or control biological or cultural factors that constrain possibilities” for myself (Wheeler, 2011). As such, I was indoctrinated into believing that I had pre-existed, meaning I had a life before I was born. And this is not in the sense of reincarnation, rather, it was in a spiritual, non-physical sense. In this pre-existence, there was a war of ideas with Jesus Christ on one side and Lucifer on the other. Mormons believe this war of ideas began as all humanity debated on the plan for existence (The Pearl of Great Price, 2013/1851). At the center of this plan was personal agency. On one side, Lucifer intended to remove choice and guarantee the salvation of all, while Christ intended to defend personal agency, but then provide a way for salvation to those who misuse their volition and consequently need to repent of sin. Christ would enter the mortal world, atone and pay the consequences of all humankind’s sin, and resurrect himself, thus breaking the chains of spiritual and physical death. Without fully explaining the intricacies and dogmas of Mormonism, I concluded that the most important virtue in the church is obedience. If a believer wanted to return to God’s presence (gain eternal life and happiness), as they were in the pre-existence, then they need to obey and follow the path outlined before them.

The Mormon faith teaches that happiness comes through obedience to teachings, commandments, and rituals. The long list of obedience includes attending church, scripture study, prayer, baptism at age eight, worthiness interviews during adolescence, missions and marriage, and making temple covenants to name a few. The most important blessings for Mormons are those found in the temple, and no one can attend the temple unless they commit 10% of their income to the church for their entire life – a Mormon’s salvation is entwined with lucre. And then parenthood renews the cycle, as raising children in the faith becomes integral to spiritual salvation. Happiness remains tied to lifelong obedience and generational continuity.

While this plan seems organized and clear, there are aspects which jeopardize one’s pursuit of joy. Not only must an individual stay on the straight and narrow path, but he has a responsibility for other people’s salvation, which can cause profound negative spiritual and mental effects if someone else’s choices put his own salvation at risk. The Doctrine and Covenants (2013/1851) notes that parents have a duty to baptize and rear their children in the religion. However, if parents fail in their efforts, the sins of the child will be on the parent’s heads. Furthermore, an early leader of the church, John Taylor, taught members, “If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2025). The central concept of the war of ideas in the pre-existence and the fight for one’s agency stand in stark contrast to the authoritarian mindset of obedience and guilt which are hallmarks in the religion’s modern teachings. For me, I could not exist authentically in this religion, nor did the virtue of spiritual obedience to a leader in a far-off city make logical sense to me.

Existence and Stoicism

After meeting with a psychotherapist for several weeks and discovering the linkages between CBT and Stoicism, I procured a copy of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (2014). Only a few passages were clear and meaningful to me when I read it the first time. Someone recommended that I read Pierre Hadot’s The Inner Citadel (2001) to fully comprehend all that Marcus Aurelius wrote. One chapter of Hadot’s book focuses entirely on Epictetus since he had such a profound impact on Aurelius. I then obtained a copy of Epictetus’ writings and from this point on, my library bloomed with books on Stoicism.

The single most important doctrine of Stoicism is the demarcation of what is “up to us” (Epictetus & Long, 2018) and what is not. Epictetus notes that our abilities to judge, our motivation and desires and aversions are the things that are up to us. But our body, possessions, our lot in life and even our reputation are not up to us. As I read this passage the first time and then repeatedly, I felt an immense sense of relief as I comprehended such a clearly defined locus of control which stood in contrast to the guilt-tripping, manipulation and expansive locus of duties required in Mormonism. Epictetus’ lesson on delineation pervades Aurelius’ Meditations and is expanded upon by Hadot. Once I understood this demarcation, I realized I could truly exist and set boundaries between my innermost self and other people and events.

My studies further deepened as I discovered The College of Stoic Philosophers. Their courses taught me Stoic physics, logic and ethics. During these classes, I began to learn the language and subjects of philosophy. I was introduced to Skepticism, Epicureanism, Neo-Platonism and other schools of thought. However, I was not expecting to encounter Existentialism while studying Stoicism.

While studying Stoic physics I learned of the idea of eternal recurrence (Durand et al., 2023), and how Nietzsche’s doctrine of the same name (Wilkerson, n.d.) was used to great effect to help individuals determine if they truly love their fate and are living their best life. Hadot (2001) also made the same connection. The longer I contemplated the concept of amor fati and saying “yes” to my life repeatedly and endlessly, I realized there was perhaps more work to be done in terms of discovering my essence.

Essence and Existentialism

My first act of asserting a definition of my essence was to apply at APU and enroll in my first philosophy course. Philosophy 101 did not discuss Existentialism, but a posting by one of the students referred to Kierkegaard and how his writings had a profound impact on her life. She listed Sartre, Camus and other Existentialist philosophers as notable influences in her life as well. While I had come across Camus and Nietzsche a few years before, I knew nothing else about Existentialism. After taking several required philosophy classes, by June 2023 I enrolled in a course on Existentialism; perhaps my favorite course of all the classes I’ve taken.

Stoicism’s mantra of “living according to Nature” (Sellars, 2014, p. 125) nicely sums the aim for life, but implicit in that motto is a trust in the universe that all was intended to be exactly as it occurs. For some, the effort in trying to discern reasons for why the universe dishes out breath-taking hardships can be too much for their schema of existence. To me, Camus’ assessment of the universe seems a smidge more honest than the Stoic assessment. His definition of the absurd, which explains the tension of humanity’s relentless quest to find meaning despite the fact that the Cosmos forever remains silent, resonates more deeply with me. Rather than being forced to find a meaning for one’s strange circumstance (Stoicism), one is free to admit the absurdity of existence and is liberated to define one’s own meaning and essence. 

Later in my course on Existentialism, I learned that I had been living in “bad faith” because I was largely dependent on other’s norms and values (Overthink Podcast & Anderson, 2022) and I was only dreaming of my essence (Flynn, 2006). Even though I had been liberated from Mormonism, I realized I was largely finding comfort in my fate or facticity, and I was denying that I had a responsibility to positively create my meaning and essence instead of remaining fixed in my circumstances. In July 2023, while on a business trip in India, I came to a profound realization I was shirking my responsibility and that I needed to begin to live in good faith and act on creating my essence (Putnam, 2023). Since writing that essay, I enrolled in a number of psychology classes at APU, and I am about to complete my college degree in philosophy. I have also solidified my plans to retire from my corporate career by the year 2031 and enroll in a Master of Counseling program with the intent to become a licensed professional counselor (LPC). Beyond this next phase, I intend to practice my craft in a hospital or university setting, helping other people through life’s challenges as well as assisting them in finding their own meaning project.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this essay explored the three phases of my intellectual autobiography, with the first phase delving into Mormonism and my so-called pre-existence, phase two examining Stoicism and how it helped me to delineate my existence, and phase three uncovering Existentialism and how Nietzsche, Camus, and Sartre guided me to define my own meaning and essence. 

References

Aurelius, M. (2014). Meditations (M. Hammond, Trans.). Penguin Classics, An Imprint Of Penguin Books.

Durand, M., Shogry, S., & Baltzly, D. (2023). Stoicism (E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman, Eds.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/#CosmCyclConf 

Epictetus, & Long, A. A. (2018). How to be free : an ancient guide to the stoic life : Encheiridion and selections from Discourses. Princeton University Press.

Flynn, T. R. (2006). Existentialism : a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.

Hadot, P. (2001). The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (M. Chase, Trans.). Cambridge, Mass. London Harvard University Press.

Overthink Podcast, & Anderson, E. (2022). Sartre’s theory of bad faith. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUXXmHkI-Ug

Putnam, D. (2023). Time and Existentialist Creation. Rockyrook.com. https://www.rockyrook.com/2023/07/rel-411-time-and-existentialist-creation.html

Sellars, J. (2014). Stoicism. Routledge.

Sissons, B. (2022, September 30). Personality types: Type A and type B traits. Www.medicalnewstoday.com. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/type-a-vs-type-b.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2025). Chapter 18: Service in the Church. Churchofjesuschrist.org. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-18?lang=eng 

The Doctrine and Covenants. (2013). Doctrine and Covenants 68. Www.churchofjesuschrist.org. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/68?lang=eng (Original work published 1835)

The Pearl of Great Price. (2013). Abraham 3. Www.churchofjesuschrist.org. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/abr/3?lang=eng (Original work published 1851)

Wheeler, M. (2011). Martin Heidegger (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford.edu. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/

Wilkerson, D. (n.d.). Nietzsche, Friedrich | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/nietzsch/#H7

MGMT 314 (Ethics in Management) - Ethical Evolution of Modern American Businesses

 Abstract

This essay discusses the positive advancement of ethics in U.S. based businesses over the last 130 years. It then reviews common unethical practices and how leadership addresses these challenges. The essay then examines how the 2007-2008 financial crisis was essentially a people process failure as good-intentioned choices led to significant negative consequences. Lastly it argues that minimizing discrimination and supporting diversity, in tandem with corporate outreach and employee volunteerism programs benefit both the business and the employees’ lives.

 

Introduction

In 1882, one of the richest men in the United States and world let slip his limited and stunted view on ethics, when he told a reporter “The public be damned” (Gordon, 1989). In an age of tycoons when the interests of many common workers and citizens were ignored or overlooked, William Henry Vanderbilt conveyed, in those four words, his disregard for the common welfare. Through the years, American businesses with the encouragement of lawmakers, have made progress in promoting ethics and supporting the common good. Legislation like the Clayton Antitrust Act and various other types of reforms are evidence that businesses have positively evolved over the years. While most workers don’t have access to make decisions which impact their corporation or public, many grapple with day-to-day, common ethical choices dealing with theft, conflicts of interest and dishonesty. Less common, but nonetheless impactful, are the choices of people which led to the 2007-2008 financial meltdown, in which it is learned that sometimes people’s good ethical intentions lead to negative consequences. Lastly, evidence of modern American businesses positively evolving from an ethics perspective is the continued efforts to eradicate discrimination and to promote diversity, along with the increased focus on corporate efforts to boost outreach in the community through company sponsored events and employee volunteerism.

Modern Businesses Have Positively Evolved

American businesses have evolved significantly from Vanderbilt’s time. In his era, many workers and even the public had little to no recourse to reign in the tycoons and barons who controlled vast sums of money and assets. Ginsberg (2017) argues the United States, with its democratic form of government, was able to modulate businesses’ practices and establish legal reforms while avoiding the reactionary and violent workers’ revolutions which occurred in Russia and Germany. Workers who suffered from poor working conditions and inadequate pay benefited from the Clayton Antitrust Act by having the opportunity to work for competitors instead of a single monopoly.

Ginsberg (2017) also documents the rebirth of American industry after World War II which saw the creation of many shareholders as average citizens who began investing on a significant scale. This pivot brought a dip in concern for business ethics. However, by the 1970s, the American stockholder and consumer began to take a prominent position. Worker pensions and retirement savings accounts rose significantly. While improvements in ethics continued to advance, financial fraud increased from the 1980s to the early 2000s. In light of negative impacts on shareholders and employees due to the downfall of Enron and the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act were passed to support the positive evolution of holding powerful corporations accountable for unethical behaviors.

Common Forms of Unethical Behavior

While most workers lack the ability to influence corporate or public decisions, they frequently face everyday ethical challenges. As discussed in Schwartz (2017), a national survey indicated that more than 40% of U.S. workers witnessed unethical behavior in the prior year. The more common misconduct included theft, conflicts of interest, and dishonesty. From stealing small items such as pencils and sticky notes, to falsifying travel and expense reports, many workers try to justify their unethical actions by claiming ignorance or even accidental intentions. However, upon deeper investigation, employees’ actions are usually a result of putting self-interest above the interests of the business, or in other words, the worker faces a conflict of interests.

In an attempt to create greater clarity and to assist workers in making correct moral decisions, leaders can establish core ethical values and then translate those values into policies (Schwartz, 2017). Core values are usually captured and explained in an organization’s code of ethics. The code of ethics begins with a mission statement and then it explores and clarifies the organization’s values. The code of ethics is then used as the basis to make policies and employee conduct more explicit. A code of conduct is a part of a code of ethics. The code of conduct is generally more detailed and rule-based, as it explains specific standards of business conduct which employees are expected to uphold in their day-to-day work activities.

While these low-level, very common unethical behaviors appear in day-to-day business operations, they may not necessarily lead to major ethical scandals. Fewer and far between are ethical choices people make, which have profound consequences on society and millions of people’s lives. One such example is the 2007-2008 financial meltdown.

Unethical Behavior in the 2007-2008 Financial Meltdown?

The catalyst for the 2007-2008 financial crisis was the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) created in 1977 and reinforced in the late 1990s which was to allow low-income families access to a home and to "make widespread homeownership a national goal" (Richman, 2012). Some may debate if the CRA truly was the cause of this failure, however Agarwal (2012) shows data indicating banks’ evaluations of loan origination was driven by the CRA which led to riskier banking decisions. Without the CRA, banks normally would not have approved of these loans. While most banks avoided these types of risks, Government Sponsored Enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, took on these risks and issued loans to less qualified homebuyers mainly because they were not only mandated by the federal government, but also backed by the government, meaning the risk would be ultimately born by the government. The dot-com economic bubble and the September 11th terrorist attack further accelerated the lowering of interest rates to stimulate the economy, only increasing demand for home mortgages. Banks then offloaded the risk of sub-prime mortgages by bundling the uncertain loans into mortgage-backed securities and then sold them to investors around the world.

While the U.S. government and banking institutions shoulder the blame for this significant financial crisis, it appears the intent of these choices were made in good faith, and this was essentially a people failure as opposed to a capital market process failure. The intent of the CRA was to break the barriers of entry for many Americans who could otherwise never live in a home. In fact, when the CRA was created in 1977, it was targeting banks who refused to issue "mortgage loans in distressed areas of a city" (Boatright, 2007, p. 160) which then had the effect of further urban decay. Therefore, from a deontological ethical perspective, politicians from the 1970s and 1990s felt it was their duty to affect positive changes to incentivize banks to take on more risk. And from a utilitarian perspective, it could be argued the benefits of wider home ownership outweigh the risks banks had to endure. There was no unethical behavior and intent per se, but perhaps there were unintended consequences of the impetus for change, which was the U.S. government intending to promote the common good. However, in the end, the impact was so extensive and severe, it caused the biggest economic meltdown in the world since the Great Depression.

Eradicating Discrimination and Promoting Diversity

Hiring managers and leadership need to be discerning regarding who they hire so that organizational goals and objectives can be adequately accomplished. To this end, hiring or firing decisions should not solely be based on gender, race, age or other biased considerations. Both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.) and The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2024) preclude the discrimination of workers based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age. In summary, employees and potential workers should be considered and treated fairly and not be subject to discrimination based on factors out of their control. Historically, too often, management and leadership were targeting minority groups by excluding them for consideration for hire, promotion or pay increases.

Today, many leaders and managers recognize the power of diversity in such factors as gender, ethnicity, and neurological processing. A business which operates in various communities or countries should reflect the makeup of the society in which it operates (Collins and Edgewood College School of Business, 2013). By representing the diverse composition of a society, the business places itself in a position to comprehend and better serve its customers, as well as to avoid potential legal troubles.

One recent example of leadership mismanaging a discrimination issue is that of The Results Company, LLC (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2024a). After hiring a disabled (blind) worker, the company refused to accommodate her and subsequently fired her. She had requested screen reader software to perform her job, but the company took minimal steps to assist. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against the company in order to compensate the fired worker as well as to ensure The Results Company updates its procedures for managing similar situations in the future.

Corporate Outreach and Volunteerism

Beyond ensuring due diligence in preventing discrimination and instilling positive procedures for a diverse workforce, businesses can do even more to ensure their brand and social reputation remain positive and even improve. Programs which support corporate outreach and employee volunteer efforts have empirically shown they help the organization improve performance, increase brand recognition, improve customer loyalty and improve goodwill in society (Longenecker, et al., 2013). When employees are given opportunities to volunteer, studies have shown that these efforts go a long way to improve employee values such as “compassion, humility, sympathy, empathy, and joy” (Longenecker, et al., 2013, p. 10) and that this has the added effect of promoting a work-life balance as well as camaraderie with fellow-workers. In the era of quiet quitting, a Harvard Business Review (Moss, 2023) article confirms the old adage of a happy workforce being a productive workforce. Moss (2023) notes research stating that when workers are happy, there is a 13% bump in productivity, but when they are not engaged (e.g. quietly quitting) they are unhappy and depriving businesses of $8.8 trillion worth of work. As a result, leadership should support and promote corporate outreach and employee volunteer programs to not only benefit the bottom line of the business, but to improve the lives of the workers and employees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, over the last 130 years, American businesses, with lawmakers' support, have advanced in ethics which have benefitted the common good. Laws like the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act show this progress. While most employees lack decision-making power in corporations, they face day-to-day ethical challenges, such as theft and conflicts of interest. Some ethical choices, like those leading to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, have had unintended negative consequences. However, businesses continue to evolve by combating discrimination, promoting diversity, and increasing corporate social responsibility through community outreach, company-sponsored events, and employee volunteerism, reinforcing their commitment to ethical growth and sustainability. 

References

Agarwal, S., National Bureau of Economic Research., Benmelech, E., Bergman, N., & Seru, A. (2012). Did the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Lead to Risky Lending? National Bureau of Economic Research.

Boatright, J. R. (2007). Finance Ethics. A Companion to Business Ethics, 153–163. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470998397.ch13

Collins, D., & Edgewood College School of Business. (2013, July 18). Best Practices on Employee Diversity. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/embed/5egW09F1AXQ?wmode=opaque&rel=0

Ginsberg, D. (2017, April 21). Evolution of business ethics in the US: From exploitation to ethics? California Management Review. https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2017/04/evolution-of-business-ethics/ 

Gordon, J. S. (1989). “The Public Be Damned.” AMERICAN HERITAGE. https://www.americanheritage.com/public-be-damned

Longenecker, C. O., Beard, S., & Scazzero, J. A. (2013). What about the workers? The workforce benefits of corporate volunteer programs. Development and Learning in Organizations, 27(1), 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777281311291213 

Moss, J. (2023, October 20). Creating a Happier Workplace Is Possible — and Worth It. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/10/creating-a-happier-workplace-is-possible-and-worth-it 

Richman, S. (2012, October 14). Clinton’s Legacy: The Financial and Housing Meltdown. Reason.com. https://reason.com/2012/10/14/clintons-legacy-the-financial-and-housin/ 

Schwartz, M. S. (2017). Business ethics : An ethical decision-making approach. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Www.eeoc.gov. https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964 

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2024). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Www.eeoc.gov. https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/age-discrimination-employment-act-1967 

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2024a). EEOC Sues The Results Companies for Disability Discrimination. US EEOC. https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-results-companies-disability-discrimination 

College of Stoic Philosophers Stoic Essentials Studies - What to Expect & Primers

School of Athens by Raphael

 The College of Stoic Philosophers is an on-line school to help people learn and apply Stoicism. In my experience, most people decide to apply to the college and enroll in the Stoic Essentials Course (SES) because there has been some catalyst in their life (e.g. needing improved resiliency, self-exploration, continuing education). The school has observed that there are a lot of people who apply, but a good amount of people don't finish, despite paying $100 for the course. I've had 15 students assigned to me, 8 completed the course, 4 either dropped the course or simply stopped communicating, and 3 are in progress and close to finishing (as of February 2025).

The purpose of this post is to simply give people a bit more detail as to what to expect, in terms of time commitment and work.

Up front, applicants will need to write a "know thyself" essay which is at least 1000 words. The essay is really meant to help the applicant think about why they have decided to join the college as a student and take the SES course (see the SES site for a number of questions the essay needs to address). Besides the essay, the applicant will share a bit more context about him or herself so that their potential mentor can learn about them. The cost of SES is $100 (as of 2025).

After they submit their application, their essay is shared with a faculty member (the mentor), who will read the essay and take the applicant as a student.

After a student is assigned, they are granted access to Moodle (the learning software) after which the student needs to contact (email) their mentor to schedule a conference. This initial meeting usually occurs over video-conference. In the conference, the mentor will explain and provide an overview of SES, and ensure the student has a copy of the course material (John Sellars' book titled Stoicism).

SES is divided into two parts: 4 modules of theory covering an introduction, logic, physics and ethics) and 4 modules on practice (transition, Stoic practices, case studies and essay on duty). During the first 4 modules, the student reads Sellars' Stoicism, takes notes, answers questions and completes a few quizzes. During the second 4 modules, the student goes through a series of practices and writing in an effort to think about how to apply and incorporate Stoicism in their life. In brief, you will need to read a book, take a few quizzes, and write several short answers to questions and write a few short essays.

It is recommended the student take two weeks to complete each module. If the student dedicates 2 to 3 hours per week to read and respond to the short answer sections and brief quizzes, for a total of 4 to 6 hours per module, then there is plenty of time for them to complete SES in two months. I would recommend potential SES students plan to set aside 2 to 3 hours per week over the course of two months, for a total of 16 to 24 hours of effort.

What should you do before you decide to take the leap into SES? Some students already have a deep philosophical or religious background, while others might not know anything about the topics of logic, physics or ethics (I certainly knew nothing of these topics when I took SES). Depending on your level, I would recommend the following primers (if you're brand new to philosophy, watch and read everything, but if you are familiar with philosophy, read the last two articles).

• What is Philosophy?: Crash Course Philosophy #1 by Hank Green
• What is Philosophy? - First Lecture of the Semester by Jeffrey Kaplan
• The History of Philosophy: Origins of Ancient Philosophy Around the Globe by Kelly Macquire
• Socrates (469 - 399 B.C.E.) by James M. Ambury
• Stoicism by Marion Durand, Simon Shogry, Dirk Baltzly

After these primers, below are other resources to articles or podcasts which the Stoicism student should read / listen to either before, during or after taking SES.

• Epictetus' Enchiridion
• Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
• Chris Fischer's Stoicism on Fire podcast

Stoicism has become wildly popular over the last 20 years, but in particular there was a significant spike in interest during the COVID-19 pandemic, and interest continues to be high in 2025. That continued interest leads many, like myself, to publish and share free, on-line resources on the topic of Stoicism. The above links will get you started and primed for SES. Beyond these resources, you will find hundreds of books, videos, on-line articles, blogs and other content to guide you on your way!

Welcome to philosophy and Stoicism!

MGMT 314 (Ethics in Management) - Historical Perspectives in Business Ethics and Pay Gaps

The writing prompt for week 2 of this class was rather interesting and pertinent to my current job as well as current events.

The prompt was "From your perspective, what are two of the most interesting historical ethical dilemmas that we have faced as a society? How do they relate to our reading material from weeks #1 and #2?"

"How did Adam Smith justify the ethics of capitalism? How does capitalism fit in with modern business life and how does it impact ethical dilemmas that you have seen or heard of in the workplace?  Use examples to support your positions."

Besides answering the prompt, we were supposed to weave a current event from an article on CNBC.com from the business section.

Below is my response.

Human civilization and ethics have evolved over centuries. By the time Adam Smith appeared in history, he based his ideas and ethics on forbearers like Locke. While Locke recognized life, liberty and property as natural rights, he fell short in acknowledging equal rights and status of class between land owners and laborers (Schweigert, 2016). The book notes of Locke, "not only did their low station in life show that they were incapable of rational conduct, but their poverty showed their moral depravity as well" (Schweigert, 2016, p. 73). Smith went further than Locke and argued that "the property which every man has in his own labour, as it is the original foundation of all other property" (Schweigert, 2016, p. 74). Therefore, capital in Smith's view is not simply land and physical assets, but also the physical and even mental work of the individual. This idea still finds relevance in modern business life in which individual workers ought to be compensated fairly for the physical and mental work they produce, regardless of their gender or race. Even still, there are ethical dilemmas which modern workers and corporations face when it comes to pay gaps.

While there are many ethical dilemmas, generally speaking I think historical dilemmas related to pay gaps and race seem to have long-standing dialogues which impact our society even today. One article from our reading this week (Shin, 2014) discusses the pay gap between executives and average workers for American companies. It notes that the pay gap actually decreased between the years of 1940 to 1970, but then after 1970 the gap widened and then significantly increased in the 1990s. To give a sense of just how significant the pay gap grew, the ratio of CEO pay to average worker was between 30 and 120 from around 1940 to 1970, but then that ratio grew to over 270 by the 1990s. The article further noted the key drivers for how that gap either decreased or increased.  If workers form a union, then the pay gap can decrease, however, if "the CEO has a finance background" or if the CEO is an external hire, then the pay gap tends to increase (Shin, 2014, p. 1339).

Related to the executive to average worker gap, there are also gaps in pay between races. As more countries enter the global economy, the pay gap in job sectors becomes very apparent. For example, Sindwani (2019) notes that U.S. IT workers are paid eight times more than Indian IT workers. This pay gap has driven many U.S. based companies to outsource and offshore work to India. In fact, this pay gap has been leveraged through the H-1B visa program which has recently been in the news again. Several years ago, 60 Minutes (CBS News, 2017) ran a segment explaining this program and how many American companies have hired Indian workers for much less pay so they could replace American workers.

In both these cases, there appears to be a dilemma: should the company continue to find ways to deliver the same product for less cost, or should the company keep or increase costs but pay workers more? This dilemma may only become worse as more automation from Artificial Intelligence (AI) replaces many workers, in which companies do not have to pay health insurance or other benefits for AI bots.  Also, these bots can work 24 hours a day. One company has plans for rolling out and implementing AI (Daniel, 2024) after which it plans to cut its workforce in half. While this company increased pay for its employees by more than 70%, its overall workforce will be reduced.  This is one way a company can cut costs while addressing pay gaps, but then this introduces another dilemma: do companies have an obligation to hire people for the sake of giving people a job?

Another ethical dilemma businesses face is highlighted in the recent news article section of CNBC (Repko, 2024). Many U.S. based companies have implemented programs to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in their workforce, especially since the death of George Floyd. However, due to pressure from consumers as well as pressure to reduce costs, many companies like Walmart are cutting DEI programs. Some companies contend that their DEI programs actually help them become more competitive and deliver a better product to the market, thus increasing revenues. However, other companies cite market research and consumer backlash as reasons to drop their DEI programs.

Speaking personally from a perspective of working in a global company and having worked with hundreds of teams and people from all over the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, Malaysia, India and the Philippines, I can confidently state that executive management has done it's best to move work and resources outside the United States to not only reduce costs, but to also avoid high standards of diversity, equity and inclusion set in and by the United States. While executives can claim they embrace DEI standards for workers in the U.S. (which may account for 20% of their workforce), they can ignore these standards in India and other places, which accounts for 80% of their workforce. In fact, almost half of the human work performed by my company is conducted out of India, which still lives by a caste system mentality. While globalization and modernization has eroded the influence of the Indian caste system (Alam, 2023), it still has sway in many business aspects today.

References

60 Minutes, & CBS News. (2017). “60 Minutes” examines H-1B visas outsourcing American jobs. In CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/60-minutes-examines-h-1b-visas-outsourcing-american-jobs/

Alam, M. (2023). Occupational and Educational Changes in Indian Caste System: A Systematic Review. Contemporary Voice of Dalit. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X231186255

Daniel, A. (2024). Klarna plans to nearly halve workforce as AI replaces human jobs. In Press Association. Press Association Limited.

Repko, M. (2024, November 26). Walmart pulls back on DEI efforts, removes some LGBTQ merchandise from website. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/26/walmart-pulls-back-on-dei-efforts-removes-some-lbgtq-merchandise-.html

Schweigert, F. J. (2016). Business Ethics Education and the Pragmatic Pursuit of the Good. Cham Springer International Publishing.

Shin, T. (2014). Explaining Pay Disparities between Top Executives and Nonexecutive Employees: A Relative Bargaining Power Approach. Social Forces, 92(4), 1339–1372. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sou004

Sindwani , P. (2019, June 11). Here’s how much an IT employee makes in different countries. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-much-does-an-it-employee-makes-in-different-countries/articleshow/69739244.cms