Moral Compass for Philosophy 200 Ethics Course

Below is the assignment criteria for this paper:

Using the material on moral compasses from weeks 1 and 2, write a paper of no less than 500 words that accomplishes the following:

• In a section titled "Theories" identify the 1-4 moral theories you will use to build your compass (deontological, utilitarian, common good, virtue, etc.) along with a short documented definition for each theory. ["documented" in the sense of citing and referencing your source.]
• In a section titled "Explanation" explain for each theory how it would help you make what you feel would be the right decision and in what situations (ex. Using deontology at work to ensure the company’s policies are kept and its reputation is upheld; Using care ethics at home as a way to be equitable with the kids, etc.).
• Chose one topic from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (under “Ethics Spotlight” ) or another pressing ethical situation you or others you know are facing at the moment and using ether Framework for Ethical Decision Making (Markkula or Brown), walk through the steps to make an ethical decision and justify what you decide is the moral action to take in this situation. Be sure to be clear on which of the two frameworks you are using.

And here was my submission (received a 100%).

Theories

Stoicism’s moral framework is thoroughly based in virtue ethics.  The telos or end for the human, according to Stoicism, is eudaimonia which ultimately is living in agreement with Nature or the universe.  Applied at the individual level, living in agreement with the universe means “conforming one’s will with the sequence of events that are fated to occur in the rationally constituted universe, as providentially willed by Zeus” (Stephens).  Most events in the world are not up to us – the Stoics call these indifferents.  The only thing that is up to us is our “virtue, [which is] conceived as an excellent internal disposition of the soul; a healthy mind” (Sellars 133).  As such, the individual’s task is to grasp an accurate and correct perspective of events, and then determine the right attitude and action for the right reasons to demonstrate an excellent character, which is virtue or arete.

Another key point of Stoic ethics is the idea of oikeiôsis which can be translated as “orientation” and “appropriation” (Sellars 107).  This is an acknowledgement of humans’ drive for self-preservation.  While many living things strive purely for physical self-preservation, humans have the unique disposition of fulfilling their rational nature, which is the demonstration of excellence of character.  Furthermore, humans are social creatures, and for them to fully flourish, they must not only strive for excellence of self, but also seek and promote the rational well-being of those around them including family, friends, neighbors, fellow citizens, foreigners and any entity in the cosmos.  Anthony Long succinctly notes, “moral development for the Stoics is the recognition that community life and virtue are pre-eminently things which belong to human nature” (Long 191).

Explanation

The practicing Stoic will engage with the world while only focusing on what is up to him.  In other words, the only assets he has at his complete disposal are his rational nature (his ability to learn, reason and remember), and his moral attitude and action (the choice to act with morals such as justice, courage, temperance, diligence, and wisdom).  While recognizing that indifferents (e.g., health, sickness, wealth, poverty, fame, infamy, etc.) are neither good nor bad, he uses them to demonstrate his technical excellence in moral choice.  On these tenets, he assumes his position in life, learns, and carries out his duties in support of the common good.

This framework helps me to recognize my roles in life: a son, a husband, a friend, a father, a neighbor, a co-worker, an employee, a citizen.  While no one role takes up all the time and energy in my life, at times, various roles may come in conflict in terms of demanding attention.  At these moments, I can always ask myself: “what is the right moral virtue to demonstrate in this given circumstance?”  The answer usually provides a guide for my actions.

I think one of the most important choices a person has is whether to be a parent or not.  So many other ethical choices are wrapped up in that one choice.  I think my wife and I made the right decision to choose to have kids.  The second most important decision we faced was how to rear the four children well.  Not only did we need to provide for their physical well-being, but we had to consider their emotional and mental well-being and teach them how to take care of themselves and assume their unique position in the world in support of the common good.  And not only did my wife and I have to teach them these things, but we had to demonstrate it with thousands of our own choices day in and day out.  In every interaction, whether explicitly or implied, we asked ourselves and our children, “what is the correct moral virtue to exercise in this particular circumstance?”  The discussion of the matter and the actual choice have always been enlightening.

Application of Framework for Ethical Decision Making

Lia Thomas recently made national headlines after smashing several women’s swimming records (Chen).  The reason for the headlines is not only the sizable gap between the old and new record, but also because Lia was biologically born as male, and transitioned to become a woman as recently as 2019 (Levenson).  The ethical issue at hand is whether women’s collegiate swimming can be considered fair for most competitors who were born women as they compete against a swimmer who may have an unfair advantage from being born and living as a male but has transitioned to become a woman.  Stated differently, is the collegiate league for women’s swimming harmed by allowing Lia and future transgender athletes to compete?  Roughly following the Brown framework (issue, parties, relevant information, actions and alternatives, decide, act, reflect), I arrived at the opinion that gender leagues should be abolished in favor of a paradigm that more closely aligns with how the Paralympics compete.

Historically, many competitive sports have had separate divisions for men and women to allow women greater access to opportunities traditionally afforded to men.  If women’s sports leagues continue to allow participants who once competed in the male division to switch to the women’s division, does this make it fair for those female participants who have always competed in the women’s division?  Does a male-born individual, whose body produces testosterone for almost two decades, thus giving that person a size and muscle advantage over women who aren’t afforded the same biological benefit, have an unfair advantage?  These questions and considerations are many and complex.  Gathering all the relevant information on this subject area could take a long time for any one individual.

However, more importantly, leagues need to reflect on their aims and goals.  Once this is established and agreed upon, then league administrators could decide a course of action.  If historical continuity is tantamount, then perhaps it would be prudent to preserve male and female leagues, and perhaps create a transgender league to maintain consistency.  Alternatively, society may have advanced to a degree of competitive parity that people could decide all gender-based leagues ought to be abolished and competitive league criteria re-established along agreed upon lines such as body and muscle mass, and other considerations.

In any case, for this issue, it seems that the correct solution would be one that considers and protects the rights for all people involved (male, female and transgender), regardless of gender.  If one group’s right to fair competition is violated, then the entire concept of competition is eroded.  Alternatively, a paradigm could be created to find an appropriate competitive league that supports individuals of all genders.

My own opinion on this matter is that all gender-based sports ought to be abolished and sports ought to begin to follow the concept the Paralympics have established.  One sports sociologist who has studied this topic, contends we should, “remove the label of male or female and replace it with categories based on the ability of bodies to move in that particular sport” (Kerr).  Moving to this model accomplishes the goal of the establishment of fair competitive leagues, allows for people of all genders to compete on a level playing field, and allows for greater integration of women, men, and people of all genders in the spirt of camaraderie and fair competition.

Works Cited

Chen, Shawna. Axios: NCAA Clears Way for Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas to Compete at Nationals. Newstex, Arlington, 2022. ProQuest, https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/blogs-podcasts-websites/axios-ncaa-clears-way-trans-swimmer-lia-thomas/docview/2627218038/se-2?accountid=8289.

Kerr, Roslyn. “Why It Might Be Time to Eradicate Sex Segregation in Sports.” The Conversation, 14 Jan. 2018, theconversation.com/why-it-might-be-time-to-eradicate-sex-segregation-in-sports-89305.

Levenson, Eric. “How an Ivy League Swimmer Became the Face of the Debate on Transgender Women in Sports.” CNN, 23 Feb. 2022, edition.cnn.com/2022/02/22/us/lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer-ivy-league/index.html.

Long, A A. Hellenistic Philosophy : Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics. Berkeley ; Los Angeles, University Of California Press, 1986.

Sellars, John. Stoicism. New York ; London, Routledge, 2014.

Stephens, William. “Stoic Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, iep.utm.edu/stoiceth/.

Divine Command Theory False - Darwall's arguments

PHILOSOPHY - Religion: God and Morality, Part 1

PHILOSOPHY - Religion: God and Morality, Part 2

Darwall's argument is summarized as this:

• First premise: God exists
• Second premise: it is immoral to violate God's command
• Reasons why it is immoral to violate God's command:
• God is the moral authority; God knows best.
• However, it follows that if there are separate truths or laws which God simply relies on, then the Divine Command Theory logic fails.  This is related to the Euthyphro Dilemma.
• God knows what is best for us humans
• Similar to previous reason, God knowing what is best for us, seems to point to a separate Moral authority, which stands outside the will of God, and therefore the Divine Command Theory logic fails.
• God has a greater power or authority over humans, similar to a police officer who holds power over people to arrest them or pull them over in a traffic stop.
• However, in the example of the police officer, what gives the officer power is the legal authority - the law.  The law, then, is the real source of the authority and not the officer.  Applying this to God, the Divine Command Theory fails again, because God's authority would point to something independent of God.
• Humans love God and humans would not violate God's command since humans love God.
• This would also mean we obey and respond to others whom we love.  Again, this reason stands independent of God, and therefore the Divine Command Theory logic fails.
• Darwall then mentions a 5th reason that could bypass the above reasons.  This 5th reason, as to why we should obey God's Divine Command is because of God's power.
• This fails, when we could not separate God's power from God's authority.  Said differently, it's impossible for God to force us to obey.  As Darwall says, "it's logically impossible for morality to result from force."

In all cases which Darwall describes above, God is simply a go-between separating humans and morality and is not the source of morality.

I find his arguments compelling and think they go a long way to try convince adherents of religions who would fanatically obey God, to reconsider their position.  What the Divine Command Theory attempts to do is to get the follower or adherent to think past the sale.  If some human who claims to speak or write for God, can convince others that it is immoral to violate God's command, then that human wields great power.

Perhaps a more powerful way to prove the Divine Command Theory is false is to begin by talking about the existence of God, and how God communicates.  Exploring these two premises might lead to a more fruitful discussion.  For example, if people cannot agree on the existence of God nor in God's manner of communicating, then how could universal morals (morals which all ought to adhere to) be communicated to humans?  In some regard or sense, most people learn of a concept of God through other people.  How can we know and trust what other people say to us and how could people be convinced independently?  Until these premises are resolved, it is difficult to accept the conclusions.

In addition to the above, another question is raised for those people who disagree with the Divine Command Theory, yet still obey the morals which are supposedly dispensed by God!  As one author put it, "they do not know or cannot reasonably be expected to know what God has commanded. The result is that, if the DCT is true, then for this class of moral agents, moral obligations no longer exist. It is, however, wrong to suppose that reasonable nonbelievers have no moral obligations" (Danaher 383).

However, Darwall's approach opens the conversation to at least allow a dialogue to occur.  He grants the first two premises in order to open the door for trying to convince people of the logical shortfalls of the Divine Command Theory.

Perhaps the most significant ramification of Darwall's arguments is: if God is not the moral authority, then how do humans know what is moral and what is not?  He quotes The Brothers Karamazov, "If God does not exist, then anything is permitted" (Darwall).  For those people who perhaps once believed in The Divine Command Theory and now are persuaded this argument is false, they must reform their reason for why they ought to be moral or they may even have to reconstitute their moral framework to define for themselves what is moral and immoral.  This can be difficult work and may lead many to disastrous life decisions.  Is a moral life about pursuing the most pleasure?  Is it about pursuing the greatest good for the greatest number of people?  This may be the first question and ramification of Darwall's argument: what is an individual's "why" for living.  Answering that may lead to what their moral framework ought to be.

For my own part, having left a religion that adhere to The Divine Command Theory (Mormonism), I have since turned to virtue ethics and in particular, Stoicism.  While Stoicism is based in the belief of a rational, pantheistic God, it also claims that self-physical, self-moral and social preservation drive the reasons for acting morally.  This desire for self-preservation was called by the Greeks "oikeiōsis."  A UC Berkley professor summarized this moral framework as, "While the self-regarding inclination of personal oikeiōsis is used to explain how human beings can progress morally and reach their goal, happiness, by caring for themselves, the other-regarding inclination of social oikeiōsis is used to explain how they can form a community and promote justice by caring for others" (Margin). Acting with moral courage, justice, discipline and wisdom lead the individual to a self-preserving and moral life without the need to reference a divine command.

Works Cited

Danaher, John. "In Defence of the Epistemological Objection to Divine Command Theory." Sophia, vol. 58, no. 3, 2019, pp. 381-400. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/defence-epistemological-objection-divine-command/docview/2289964083/se-2?accountid=8289, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11841-017-0622-9.

Darwall, Stephen. “PHILOSOPHY - Religion: God and Morality, Part 1.” Www.youtube.com, 3 June 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmhiibdwznQ&ab_channel=WirelessPhilosophy. Accessed 15 Feb. 2022.

Magrin, Sara. “Nature and Utopia in Epictetus’ Theory of Oikeiōsis.” Phronesis (Leiden, Netherlands), vol. 63, no. 3, Brill, 2018, pp. 293–350, https://doi.org/10.1163/15685284-12341352.

College Research Paper: Ancient Greek Philosophical Solutions to Modern Information Technology Delivery Problems

Ancient Greek Philosophical Solutions to Modern Information Technology Delivery Problems

Life does not come with a complete instruction book, nor can we predict what our future holds.  Also, why would we go to great lengths to plan the future of life in excruciating detail to the day we die and then force ourselves to follow that plan, not deviating from it a single time?  Would anyone remain committed to a plan when external circumstances have changed?  Yet this is what traditional project methodologies attempt. On the other end of the spectrum are agile methodologies which endeavor to incrementally deliver value and improve, akin to the approach ancient Greek philosophers used in pursuit of living well.  Life and Information Technology projects have an eerie similarity, and we may learn important clues to managing projects if we look to how ancient Greek philosophers sought to find the good life.

In the complex and rapidly changing arena of IT, managing risks of scope creep, growing costs, and delays in schedule produce overhead.  IT teams can learn and apply ancient Greek philosophical practices to manage these risks.  These practices help teams drive clarity, prepare for adverse events, and improve learning, while enabling individual workers to live holistically.  Many ancient Greek ideas have re-appeared in a contemporary IT delivery method known as Agile, which seeks incremental improvements with tight feedback loops, as a smart way to manage feature creep, burgeoning costs, and delays in schedule.  These constraints have often been called the “Iron Triangle” (see figure 1).  Organizations which successfully manage the risks from these constraints stand to win in the market.

Figure 1 Measey

Two major challenges IT projects face are managing swift shifts in technological solutions and determining the proper project methodology.  Teams unable to grapple with rapid changes in technological landscapes and ascertain the right delivery methodology, risk significant overhead costs related to the Iron Triangle.  The first challenge, rapid technology development, drives much of the economy today.

Technology floods people’s lives and the IT arena plays a significant role in the deluge of solutions to many business problems.  Just as early oil titans rushed to seek, capture, and sell oil in 19th century America, a new rush has emerged in the last 15 years, only this time it is based in data and information.  Tim O’Reilly, founder of the company which creates popular media for learning IT, said the following in 2005, “The race is on to own certain classes of core data: location, identity, calendaring of public events, product identifiers and namespaces” (Dames 14).  This idea of a race to own and manage data was eventually characterized by the phrase “Data Is the New Oil,” meaning the 21st century global economy would be powered by data, as oil drove economies in the 19th and 20th centuries (Dames).  This data rush has birthed numerous companies and solutions to business problems which fuels the frantic pace.

As businesses try to keep pace with innovation, IT project managers’ job has become more difficult to manage scope, cost, and schedule.  An academic researcher and an IT consultant, with more than 30 years’ experience “observed the same phenomenon over and over – the pace of technological change often outruns and undermines the best project management planning efforts” (Durney and Donnelly 642).  If IT project managers effectively manage the delivery, companies will win increased profits.  The second challenge, therefore, is determining which methodology to leverage for IT project management.

Traditional project management methodologies attempt to anticipate and plan for multi-faceted risks to the project via large chunks of work.  Larger pieces of work bring significant overhead costs through detailed planning.  When managers go to great lengths to make exhaustive plans, they fall into the mental trap of never deviating from the plan regardless of changes in landscape.  Today, managers have options other than traditional project management methodologies.   An article in The Journal of Computer Information Systems noted importantly that traditional methods are most likely unsuitable for intricate, ambiguous, and time-constrained projects and therefore, agile methodologies “show promise” (Fernandez and Fernandez 10).  The core mindset of agile methodologies is to focus on delivering value via incremental pieces of work and steadily improve the team’s way of working.

Modern IT workers should take note of the similarities between agile principals and the spirit of ancient Greek philosophy.  One word which ties these two ideas together is: incremental.  Truly agile teams seek to deliver functional solutions with constant feedback from customers and themselves.  Simply stated, they seek frequent, incremental improvement.  Similarly, a recent philosophy author wrote this of Roman Stoicism (which stems from the ancient Greeks),

Roman Stoicism is a kind of path that focuses on making small, incremental amounts of progress each day, one step at a time. No one is perfect, and that’s why Stoicism, at least in part, is a practice: and it’s not just a practice that you undertake, but something that you practice at—in the same way a musician or an athlete practices—to get better at what you do. (Fideler ch. 1)

While there are many comparable practices, this paper will discuss three and how they relate to an agile mindset.

First is the Socratic method, which drives clarity between individuals on an agile team, especially those engaged in paired programming.  The second and third are the Stoic rituals premeditatio malorum and end-of-day review.  These relate to planning and retrospective ceremonies on agile teams and provide strong feedback mechanisms to deliver and improve incrementally.  This essay will discuss each philosophical practice and elaborate on the corresponding agile practice, along with how each one can alleviate the risks of the Iron Triangle while delivering value to customers.  The first practice hearkens back to the person who started this grand conversation: Socrates.

While helping his fellow citizens discover the good life, Socrates pursued his inquiry in an organized fashion, which found its way into academia and the world of Information Technology.  This practice, known as the Socratic dialogue or method, is a form of questioning and discussion.  Through posing questions and answering them, participants confirm definitions, exchange ideas, and solidify clarifications.  The process reveals knowledge through gathered evidence and allows all participants to bring their collective experiences to the discussion (Skordoulis and Dawson 994).  The use of the Socratic method, coupled with an attitude of curiosity, can be valuable for IT teams working in a complex environment.

While the back-and-forth may seem onerous, the organization of the method ensures both parties have mutual comprehension, as evidenced by two IT workers who practiced and shared their experience from using the Socratic method.  The first found it to be effective in curtailing misunderstandings and to drive greater clarity, which reduced recycle time and waste.  The method helped her weed out emotions, put a check on assumptions, elucidate ambiguous ideas and uncover contradictions for the team to “strengthen its foundation for future decision-making or actions” (Apple).  The other IT worker found the approach useful in her paired programming efforts.  As a junior software developer, she learned the method from her mentor, and found it helped her become more mindful of decisions she was making and why.  The process aided the conscious observation of work and prevented waste (Davis).

The Socratic method relates to the sixth principal in the Agile Manifesto, which states, “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.”  The Agile Manifesto does not elaborate on the technique of face-to-face conversation, nevertheless, the principal of economical and efficacious communication is the key.  Minimizing communication issues in a team prevents rework and recycle which translates into lower costs and better schedule management, all due to use of the Socratic method.  The next two practices come from the Stoics and act as bookends in terms of time and deliverables.

The second practice is the Stoic premeditatio malorum which was used by ancient practicing Stoics to anticipate unfortunate events before they occurred.  While much has been written on this practice, a recent article in the academic journal Metaphilosophy combines multiple sources to succinctly explain this Stoic ritual.  The author notes,

Events outside our control are indifferent to us, and we must train ourselves to respond to these events with equanimity. To internalize this lesson, Stoics practiced negative visualization, which requires practitioners to vividly imagine painful or tragic outcomes (the Romans referred to this technique as premeditatio malorum, the premeditation of evils). (Hidalgo 422)

Furthermore, this ritual has the specialized effect of contemplating events which matter to the individual.  If the Stoic does not fear the loss of his job, then he would not waste time thinking of this potential harm.  However, if the Stoic fears the loss of his home, then this would be an appropriate mental exercise to contemplate.  The exercise is right sized for the individual.  While a Stoic's practice of this habit has the aim of developing inner calm in the face of adverse events, modern day IT teams increase their agility to respond to unplanned events, by participating in a similar exercise.

Two agile ceremonies, Program Increment Planning, and backlog refinement, take a right-sized approach for dealing with dependencies and blockers to the delivery of software solutions.  Their approaches are akin to premeditatio malorum.  In these regular meetings, teams work with each other, external teams, and customers to widen their mental aperture to anticipate impediments which might prevent the delivery of a feature.  With Program Increment Planning, multiple teams and customers meet to brainstorm risks to the incremental plan.  After noting risks, they discuss each one and decide either to remediate, or own, or accept or mitigate each potential hindrance (“PI Planning”).  The spirit of the exercise is to foresee obstacles and form a plan to address them.  A similar exercise is performed, on a smaller scale, in backlog refinement.  In this meeting the team refines small chunks of work by describing the outcome and conducting a risk review of the work.  As risks are identified, the user story indicates how to address them (Fakihi).  By planning in smaller increments of work, teams lower risk.  Many times, changes in requirements occur, and if a traditional project method spent a significant amount of time planning for such risks, and they do not materialize, then the project experiences waste in time and effort.  But if teams focus on highly probable and foreseeable risks, waste in excessive risk management is prevented.

While premeditatio malorum looks to the future, the third practice is the Stoic ritual which occurs after events and time have passed and is called the end-of-day review.  This exercise was noted by the Stoic Seneca.  In his essay On Anger, he admonishes the practitioner to review the day, and analyze how he acted with virtue or not, self-praising actions performed with virtue and self-forgiving and self-admonishing for acts which require correction (Lucius Annaeus Seneca et al. 91).  Almost 2,000 years later, a Chicago school teacher applied this same end-of-day reflection as she applied Stoic practices in her life and school room.  In one month of practicing the end-of-day review, she noted that despite a challenging month, she made perceptible improvement in her character, simply from observing, noting her reactions and self-coaching (Guenther 217).  In a distinctly similar manner, the agile team’s sprint retrospective not only reviews the past period but seeks to keep constant attention on self-observation and improvement.

At the end of a team’s work sprint, which typically lasts two weeks, the team sets aside focused time to review any aspect of team dynamics.  While teams may concentrate on the work they delivered – how well or poorly it went – other topics from team values, communication issues, conflicts, behaviors, and interactions are open for review, debate, discussion, and follow-up (Derby and Larsen Introduction page).  More mature teams may take time to give each other kudos to instill stronger camaraderie.  If done properly, with openness, trust and transparency, the team retrospective can lead to insights and action items to improve team dynamics, unity, and friendship.  Improved teamwork leads to the team’s ability to deliver efficient, successful IT projects.  The inspect and adapt process is so important, it is one of the bedrock agile principals, stated in the Agile Manifesto: “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.”

Table 1

The three ancient Greek practices discussed in this paper and summarized in table 1, are only a subset of ideas which have analogues to agile delivery methods.  More could be written on other ancient Greek philosophical mindsets and how they relate to agile practices.  This essay does not necessarily argue that the aims of agile principals and ancient Greek philosophical practices are the same.  But perhaps, there is value for the modern IT worker to be familiar with ancient Greek philosophical practices with the view of practicing philosophy as a way of life.

As cited earlier in the essay, Hidalgo wrote an article on the concept of philosophy as a way of living.  His writing largely drew on the work of Pierre Hadot, who argued philosophy, as we understand it today, is vastly different than how the ancients viewed it.  For the ancients, philosophy was about lived practices, not purely discourse – there was no wall between philosophical discussions and a way of living.  Every dialogue, practice and ritual had the aim of “transformation of one’s way of being and living, and a quest for wisdom” (Hadot et al. 275).  The value and intent of this essay was to open the world of practiced philosophy to the modern IT worker; to show them the richness of practical agile methodologies and their relationship with ancient philosophical concepts.  Indeed, the modern IT worker can live a philosophical life in all that he does, from his personal life, to work on IT projects as a member of a team.  Making connections between efficient agile delivery methods and the heritage of ancient Greek philosophical practices will only enhance his pursuit to live the good life.

Life and delivering IT solutions in an ever-evolving world have much in common.  We change course in life often, based on feedback from what the world has to offer.  With time as our most precious commodity, we owe it to ourselves to take an agile approach to plans and changes.  Like life, IT workers must embrace change and enjoy the journey.  By incrementally making progress towards their aims, via crisp dialogue and tight feedback loops through preparation and inspection, they gain confidence and remove many worries and anxieties of sticking to a rigid plan.  Ancient Greek thought and the agile mindset have much in common and both approaches equip the IT worker with a toolset to tackle any obstacle or challenge in life. 

Works Cited

Agile Manifesto. “Principles behind the Agile Manifesto.” Agilemanifesto.org, 2019, agilemanifesto.org/principles.html. Accessed 7 Jan. 2022.

Apple, Lauri. “How Socrates Taught Me to Talk to Developers.” Opensource.com, 18 May 2017, opensource.com/open-organization/17/5/better-it-socratic-method. Accessed 19 Dec. 2021.

Dames, K. M. "Data is the New Oil." Information Today, vol. 26, no. 8, 09, 2009, pp. 14-15. ProQuest, www.proquest.com/magazines/data-is-new-oil/docview/214797231/se-2?accountid=8289. 

Davis, Joanie. “How to Use the Socratic Method in Pair Programming.” Atomic Spin, 12 June 2021, spin.atomicobject.com/2021/06/12/socratic-method-pair-programming/. Accessed 19 Dec. 2021.

Derby, Esther, and Deena Larsen. Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Dallas, Tex., Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2012.

Durney, Christopher P., and Richard G. Donnelly. "Managing the Effects of Rapid Technological Change on Complex Information Technology Projects." Journal of the Knowledge Economy, vol. 6, no. 4, 2015, pp. 641-664. ProQuest, www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/managing-effects-rapid-technological-change-on/docview/1749602652/se-2?accountid=8289, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13132-012-0099-2. 

Fakihi, Mohamed. “Product Engineering or How to Turn Ideas into Products.” Medium, 31 Dec. 2021, fakihi.medium.com/product-engineering-or-how-to-turn-ideas-into-products-7d61c7a01a0b.

Fernandez, Daniel J., and John D. Fernandez. "AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT - AGILISM VERSUS TRADITIONAL APPROACHES." The Journal of Computer Information Systems, vol. 49, no. 2, 2009, pp. 10-17. ProQuest, www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/agile-project-management-agilism-versus/docview/232574512/se-2?accountid=8289. 

Fideler, David R. Breakfast with Seneca : A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living, eBook, New York, Ny, W. W. Norton & Company, 2022.

Guenther, Leah. ""I must be Emerald and Keep My Color": Ancient Roman Stoicism in the Middle School Classroom." Harvard Educational Review, vol. 88, no. 2, 2018, pp. 209-226,256. ProQuest, www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/i-must-be-emerald-keep-my-color-ancient-roman/docview/2061868100/se-2?accountid=8289. 

Hadot, Pierre, et al. Philosophy as a Way of Life : Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Malden, Ma ; Oxford, Uk ; Victoria, Australia, Blackwell Publishing, 2017.

Hidalgo, Javier. “Why Practice Philosophy as a Way of Life?” Metaphilosophy, vol. 51, no. 2/3, Apr. 2020, pp. 411–431. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/meta.12421. 

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, et al. Anger, Mercy, Revenge. University Of Chicago Press, 2010.

Measey, Peter. Agile Foundations : Principles, practices and frameworks, edited by Peter Measey, BCS Learning & Development Limited, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=1759633.

“PI Planning.” Scaled Agile Framework, 10 Feb. 2021, www.scaledagileframework.com/pi-planning/.

Skordoulis, Rosemary, and Patrick Dawson. "Reflective Decisions: The use of Socratic Dialogue in Managing Organizational Change." Management Decision, vol. 45, no. 6, 2007, pp. 991. ProQuest, www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/reflective-decisions-use-socratic-dialogue/docview/212102875/se-2?accountid=8289, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00251740710762044.