The gadfly business ethics project

Abstract

What follows is a brief description of the origin and development, results, and future plans of the “Gadfly Business Ethics Project” at Bentley College.

Viewing himself as selected by the god to be a gadfly to sting the great and noble but sluggish horse, the city of Athens, Socrates says:

I never cease to rouse everyone of you, to persuade and reproach you all day long and everywhere I find myself in your company.Apology, 30e

To paraphrase Webster, a Socratic “gadfly” is a person who, through the analysis and defense of ideas, intentionally stimulates others by his or her persistence. A business ethics gadfly then, in the context of our Gadfly Project, is a catalyst who motivates and strengthens an ethics dimension in functional business courses.