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The main focus of this chapter is to explore whether ecological utopias are capable of providing a useful contribution to our quest for an ecologically responsible future and sustainable society, and in what specific ways. I shall develop a model of ecological utopias as a distant point of orientation, or as a ‘navigational compass’. In this model ecotopias may gradually influence the course of concrete decision making in the direction of a future sustainable society. In this context, a strategic issue to be confronted by the green movement is to look for an eco-friendly view on ‘the good life’ and the ‘art of living’. The basic dimensions of a sustainable lifestyle and an utopian inspired ecological ‘art of living’ are that society's focus should be shifted from ‘having’ to ‘being’, and to find a balanced configuration of the vita activa: action, work and labour. It is also vital to find forms of hedonism which are independent of mass consumerism, to relate our material consumption to our ecological footprints in systematic ways, and to cultivate ecological virtues and moral character.

This paper picks up where an earlier one was left off by this same researcher. It asserts, as a starting point, that teaching professional ethics to business students yields positive results in terms of increased moral development. It then provides several rationales for justifying the teaching of professional ethics, which is a subject whose validity students – and some faculty – challenge. The method by which ethics ought to be delivered is then proffered. Some relevant questions are presented, including: “Should ethics be taught in the academy or in the workplace?” “What constitutes the proper content of a professional business ethics curriculum?”

Peter Drucker reflects upon his two novels with indulgence, describing the first as “my seventieth birthday…present” (Drucker, 1987, p. 12). Upon reading these novels, aspiring novelists might well agree. For, whilst Drucker is proud to describe himself as “a professional writer” (Drucker, 1987, p. 9), and has been remarkably successful as a non-fiction writer, it does not seem unfair to speculate that were it not for his illustrious name, he might never have secured a publisher for these novels. There is very little in the way of a plot, the characters are unmemorable and the dialogue is boring. One might thus well ask why bother to review a novel of so little literary merit written nearly twenty years ago? Such a question is easily answered. Drucker wrote his 1984 novel The Temptation to do Good for a specific purpose. And that purpose is intimately connected with ethical issues in organizations.

This paper considers the effects of the military organization upon the morality of the society within which that military organization exists. It initially considers Drucker’s arguments as to the end of the Prussian Army which explores the significance of the military’s role as an organization within a society. It then examines some dilemmas of military service and some of the harsher realities of military training. It concludes by considering those aspects with regard to a military reservist’s account of his 18-year service in the military reserves where he remained loyal to his military unit whilst steadfastly opposed to much of what that military was helping to secure in part by his continued service in the military reserves.