1. Socrates Arrives 2. What Is the “Job” of Business? 3. What Is the “Job” of Business? (continued) 4. Has the CEO Done Anything “Wrong”? 5. Has the CEO Done Anything “Wrong”? (continued) 6. Has the CEO Done Anything “Wrong”? (continued) 7. Ethics on the Job 8. Socrates Returns – The Second Conversation 9. “Ethics Is Rubbish!” 10. “Ethics Is Rubbish!” (continued) 11. Is There an Objective Foundation to Ethics? 12. Is There an Objective Foundation to Ethics? (continued) 13. Business, Ethics, Apple/Proview, and John Stuart Mill 14. Business, Ethics, Apple/Proview, and Immanuel Kant 15. Business, Ethics, Apple/Proview, and Immanuel Kant (continued) 16. Corporate Responsibility – The Gun Company 17. Corporate Responsibility – The Gun Company (continued) 18. Corporate Responsibility and “Return on Infrastructure” –  Caterpillar 19. Corporate Responsibility and “Return on Infrastructure” –  Caterpillar (continued) 20. Business, Ethics, and the Rights of Future Generations –  Climate Change 21. Business, Ethics, and the Rights of Future Generations –  Climate Change (continued) 22. Business, Ethics, and the Rights of Future Generations – The Economy 23. Business, Ethics, and the Rights of Future Generations – The Economy (continued) 24. Business, Ethics, and Ideology 25. Business, Ethics, and Ideology (continued) 26. Epilogue

Throughout Socrates Comes to Wall Street, author Thomas White challenges beliefs that are considered “common coin” in the United States, and are rarely questioned in business schools and corporations. Some of the assumptions examined are as follows: • The purpose of a business is to generate maximum profit for shareholders. • Wealth generated by business will “trickle down” throughout the rest of the economy to everyone’s benefit. That is, “a rising tide floats all boats.” • Contemporary free-market capitalism invariably promotes maximum individual freedom. • CEO compensation in the range of hundreds of times more than that of average employees is ethically appropriate. • Corporations have very limited responsibility for any harm their actions may bring to people now or in the future. • It is ethically acceptable for businesses to keep their tax bill as small as possible, even if it means they pay no taxes at all. • Ethics is a largely subjective, even arbitrary matter, rather than a technically sophisticated way to describe actions, their consequences, and assess risk. • A rigorous and sophisticated ethical analysis need not be part of decision making in business. Abiding by the law — and consulting mission statements, lists of corporate values, and one’s corporate ethics office — are more than enough to guarantee that a company’s actions are ethical. By applying Socratic reasoning to these core assumptions about business practices in our economy, White prompts students to ask themselves whether ideas that they’re absolutely certain are true are, in fact, backed up by facts and logic. And this critical perspective can help the business leader of the future avoid the economic mistakes that have made headlines recently.