What’s Next, Climate Researchers Driving Hummers?

Eric Schwitzgebel, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, has written a paper, "Do Ethicists Steal More Books?" seeking to answer the timeless question of whether ethicists (i.e., people devoted to the study and philosophy of ethical codes) are concurrently more likely to hold themselves to higher standards of behavior (i.e., practice what they preach). His finding? Not so much. In his study, Schwitzgebel examined the number of ethics books missing from academic libraries, under the assumptions that a missing library book means that someone either lost or stole it, and that academic books on ethics are generally checked out by ethicists. After compiling a list of titles, he cross-checked it with the records of 13 U.S. and 19 British academic library systems, including the six University of California libraries, as well as those at Harvard, Cornell, Stanford, and Michigan. Each school's records reflected the ...