Frank Chapman Sharp (July 30, 1866 – May 4, 1943) was an

American philosopher This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States. {, border="0" style="margin:auto;" class="toccolours" , - ! {{MediaWiki:Toc , - , style="text-al ...

who specialized in

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

, including

business ethics Business ethics (also known as Corporate Ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business co ...

and the ethical conduct of war.

Career

He received his BA from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

in 1887 and his Ph.D. at the Konigliche-Friedrich-Wilhelms

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

in 1892. His thesis, ''The Aesthetic Element in Morality and Its Place in a Utilitararian Theory of Morals'', was published in book form in both English and German in 1893. His entire teaching career was spent on the philosophy faculty at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, where he was made a full professor in 1905. He served as President of the Western Division of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

during the 1907-1908 term. Among Sharp's other publications are ''Shakespeare's Portrayal of the Moral Life'' (1902); ''A Study of the Influence of Custom on Moral Judgment'' (1908); ''A Course in Moral Instruction for the High School'' (1909); ''Syllabus on Moral Instruction'' (with Frederic James Gould, 1911); ''Ethics'' (1928); ''Business Ethics: Studies in Fair Competition'' (1937); ''Problems in Business Ethics'' (1937); and ''Good Will and Ill Will: A Study in Moral Judgments'' (1950), the last of which was published posthumously.

Philosophy

Sharp was among the first philosophers to focus on

, in which he discussed the fair treatment of employees, consumers, and competitors. His ''Syllabus on Moral Instruction'' was, for a time, used by the United States military for troop instruction. Sharp was also among the first philosophers to perform empirical studies of moral intuitions, conducting surveys at the University of Wisconsin, both of highly educated liberal arts students and of agricultural students who had had limited formal education. Sharp believed that these studies confirmed his

utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...

ethical positions. He is credited with being the first moral philosopher to use a variant of the now famous

trolley problem The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics and psychology, involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number. The series usually begins with a scenario in which a runaway tram or ...

in which a switchman must choose between saving many strangers or his own daughter from a runaway train. A brief summary of Sharp's philosophy may be found in Richard Brandt's review of Sharp's ''Good Will and Ill Will.''

Frank Chapman Sharp Memorial Prize

The Frank Chapman Sharp Memorial Prize was established by the American Philosophical Society in 1990 to honor Sharp's memory. It is awarded every other year to the best unpublished essay or monograph on the philosophy of war and peace.http://www.apaonline.org/general/custom.asp?page=sharp

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Frank Chapman 1866 births 1943 deaths Amherst College alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Philosophers from Wisconsin Moral psychologists