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The Ethicist
Columnist Randy Cohen Tackles NPR Listeners' Ethical Dilemmas
 May 15, 2005:
Profiteering in a time of loss? A listener questions their friend's business in collectibles after Pope John Paul's death.
 Listen to past shows in this series
Say you don't want to go to an old friend's wedding, but you don't want to hurt his feelings; is it OK to lie about why you're staying home? Randy Cohen explores those questions in the weekly column "The Ethicist" for the New York Times Magazine. Every couple of weeks, he stops by at All Things Considered to answer listener's ethical queries.
Cohen is the author of The Good, The Bad & The Difference: How To Tell Right From Wrong in Everyday Situations, a collection of his responses to readers, Diary of a Flying Man, a collection of short stories, and Modest Proposals, a collection of letters.
He has also won four Emmy awards, three as a writer for Late Night with David Letterman. He was the original head writer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show and has been a guest on Good Morning America. His work has also appeared in Slate magazine, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and other publications.
Shows in this series:
May 1, 2005:
Trading a lemon: the owner of a tough-luck car wonders about trading it in.
April 17, 2005:
A listener wants to know if he should feel guilty about tapping into his neighbor's wireless network. A possible mitigating circumstance: He pays for his own Internet access, wired into his apartment.
March 20, 2005:
A listener considers donating a kidney to a friend -- but only if he agrees to stop smoking. Randy Cohen considers the case.
March 6, 2005:
A listener is unsure about taking on clients if they've turned down the company he works for. New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen and host Jennifer Ludden discuss.
February 20, 2005:
New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen and host Jennifer Ludden discuss the implications of unreported day care.
February 6, 2005:
A mother of an autistic child wonders whether about accepting government services. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen.
January 23, 2005:
A soccer mom is unsure what to do about an over-age ringer on her son's team, who joined when the squad had a losing record.
January 9, 2005:
When you sell your home, do you have to tell the buyer all the details -- good AND bad? NPR's Jacki Lyden and New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen consider a homeowner's quandary.
December 26, 2004:
It's not too early to start getting ready for next Christmas! NPR's Jacki Lyden and New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen have some sage advice on common holiday ethical dilemmas.
December 12, 2004:
A listener is worried about her children watching bootlegged videos. NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the case.
November 28, 2004:
NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen talk with a listener who wants to know: is it right to lie to the Red Cross in order to give blood?
November 14, 2004:
At an opera in Russia, a listener paid half price for a ticket from a scalper. NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the case.
October 31, 2004:
A listener is unsure about supporting the Boy Scouts. NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the case, and revisit the story about inheriting fur.
October 17, 2004:
A listener can't decide what to do with an old mink coat given to her by her mother. NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen discuss a question of guilt by inheritance.
October 3, 2004:
NPR's John Ydstie and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen talk to a listener who wants to know what to do with his beloved -- but environmentally incorrect -- classic 1964 Chevrolet Nova.
September 19, 2004: NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen help a listener who is queasy about sending blind copies of emails through the "bcc" function.
September 5, 2004: NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethics columnist Randy Cohen talk to a listener who is conflicted over what to do about a missing child.
August 22, 2004: NPR's Jennifer Ludden and New York Times ethics columnist Randy Cohen talk to a listener who's wondering if he should censor the magazines and newspapers he sends to soldiers in Iraq.
August 8, 2004: Ruth Francisco is a mystery writer who wants to know if it's ever ethical to kill someone.
July 25, 2004: A listener wonders about exposing a brother who used fraudulent credentials to obtain a teaching post at a major university. New York Times ethics columnist Randy Cohen and NPR's Brian Naylor weigh in.
July 11, 2004: When can you break a promise? NPR's Debbie Elliot and New York Times ethics columnist Randy Cohen respond to a listener's dilemma about a workplace vow.
June 27, 2004: A listener and the Ethicist discuss whether an acclaimed writer's request that all their correspondence be destroyed should be honored. NPR's Andrea Seabrook talks with New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen.
June 13, 2004: Is it OK to divulge relatives' secrets after their death? NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen.
May 30, 2004: What's the difference between gossip and the news? NPR's Linda Wertheimer discusses the topic with New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen.
May 16, 2004: If you know something that would cast someone else in an unflattering light, when is it your obligation to tell? NPR's Linda Wertheimer and New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the issue.
May 2, 2004: What to do when you're at the ballet and your seats are far behind empty -- expensive -- rows of chairs. NPR's Cheryl Corley and New York Times Magazine ethicist Randy Cohen talk with a woman torn over swapping seats.
Apr. 18, 2004: NPR's Cheryl Corley and ethicist Randy Cohen consider the quandary of a young schoolteacher in Mississippi. Her students' grammar and bad language disturbs her, but she worries that to correct them is to insult their culture.
April 4, 2004: NPR's Howard Berkes and ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the dilemma of William Gooch of South Holland, Ill. He was lucky enough to win a lottery to purchase hard-to-get tickets. He wonders whether it's right to sell a ticket to his friend for more than face value.
Mar. 21, 2004: NPR's John Ydstie and ethicist Randy Cohen discuss whether a listener should boycott a coffee shop whose owner attends a church he finds offensive.
Mar. 7, 2004: NPR's John Ydstie and ethicist Randy Cohen chat with "Bob from Michigan," a radio journalist who wants to know if it's ethical for him to get involved in politics.
Feb. 15, 2004: NPR's Steve Inskeep and ethicist Randy Cohen discuss the problem of a mother who has found what may be her son's drug stash in his recently vacated room.
Feb. 1, 2004: NPR's Steve Inskeep and ethicist Randy Cohen try to help a listener who is concerned about teaching her child religious ideas.
Jan. 18, 2004: NPR's Steve Inskeep and ethicist Randy Cohen are joined by a listener in Hartford, Conn., who supervises an employee who is having difficulty working overtime.
Jan. 4, 2004: NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to ethicist Randy Cohen about the dilemma of listener Ashley Elser, who wants to know if she should pay for fruit she picks off the ground at an orchard. The orchard charges for fruit picked.
Dec. 21, 2003: NPR's Jacki Lyden talks with ethicist Randy Cohen about the dilemma of listener Tim Botsko, a photographer who witnessed a fatal traffic accident. He asks if it's ethical for a photographer to intrude on others' grief in order to get a good shot.
Dec. 7, 2003: NPR's Steve Inskeep and ethicist Randy Cohen consider the question of a listener whose restaurant co-worker made racist remarks on the job.
Nov. 23, 2003: NPR's Steve Inskeep and ethicist Randy Cohen are joined by a listener who feels pressured by his boss to pray.
Nov. 9, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep talks with ethicist Randy Cohen who responds to listeners' objections to advice he recently gave to a young man who was troubled to find his friend and co-worker smoking pot on the job. They also discuss the dilemma of a listener whose neighbors make nude videos for a living.
Oct. 26, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep talks with ethicist Randy Cohen and a listener about the ethics of telling on a co-worker who smokes marijuana on the job.
Oct. 12, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep talks with Cohen and a listener about the ethics of artificially inflating food costs.
Sept. 28, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep talks with Cohen about a thorny literary problem: What should you do when a close friend asks for advice on her book project, and it's awful?
Sept. 14, 2003: NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Cohen and a listener about the ethics of signing up for loans with zero-percent interest -- only to transfer the balance to another zero-percent loan as soon as the interest rate kicks in.
Aug. 31, 2003: Guest host Jacki Lyden and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a woman whose late brother left her money, but cut a third sibling out of his will. Can she share her money with that
third sibling, against her deceased brother's wishes?
Aug 17, 2003: Guest host Jacki Lyden and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a man whose radio scanner picks up frequencies used by cordless phones. Is eavesdropping on his neighbors' conversations OK, as long as he doesn't steal information from them?
Aug 3, 2003: Guest host Jacki Lyden and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a woman whose ex-husband who has overpaid alimony for three years and now demands repayment of $30,000.
July 20, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a woman who feels uncomfortable knowing that the company she works for is being dishonest with its vendors. At the same time, she feels loyal to her coworkers and doesn't want to lose her job.
July 6, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a man who overheard his boss talking about selling his company. Was he obliged to warn his fellow workers about a possible threat to their job security, even though he learned of it by eavesdropping?
June 22, 2003: Guest host Joe Palca and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a man who has stumbled across his friend's very personal Web log. Is a blog considered as private as a diary is? If so, should he refrain from reading it any further?
June 8, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep and Cohen discuss a listener's dilemma: Should he report to his bosses that a colleague sports a decal of a white supremacist group on his pickup truck?
May 25, 2003: Host Steve Inskeep and Cohen discuss the dilemma of a doctor whose patients constantly fail to make appointments.
May 11, 2003: Inskeep and Cohen ponder looting in wartime and the ethics of advertising. Should you swipe those souvenirs? And if your client is a bigot, do you have to cater to his prejudices?
April 27, 2003: Guest host Lynn Neary and Cohen discuss a listener's delimma: deceiving a boss about her religious background and sexual orientation in order to keep her job.
April 13, 2003: Guest host John Ydstie and Cohen grapple with the ethics of dissent during wartime.
March 9, 2003: Neary and Cohen weigh a listener's delimma: selling her house through her kind real estate agent or through a shark who can get the job done.
Feb. 23, 2003: Inskeep and Cohen discuss the moral obligations of reporters in wartime. Also, should you speak up when you hear racist remarks? And what are the ethical implications of dumpster-diving at a posh coffee shop?
Feb. 9, 2003: Guest host Jacki Lyden and Cohen discuss one of the precepts of ethics -- utilitarianism. And we have advice for a listener: Is a teacher ethically obligated to read the evaluations his students write about him?
Jan. 26, 2003: Inkseep and Cohen debate the ethics of tattoos. Also, hear a discussion about how to make your own ethical decisions.
Jan. 12, 2003: Inkseep and Cohen discuss the proper way to run a co-op board election, and how to deal with your kooky relatives.
Dec. 29, 2002: Inkseep and Cohen discuss whether it's ethical to write your own "Harry Potter" novel, and whether downloading music from the Internet is like stealing.
The discussion was prompted by this story:
Fans are writing "Harry Potter" books of their own.
Dec. 15, 2002: Lyden and Cohen ponder this question: Does the classic excuse, "I really didn't mean to do it" lessen a grievance?
Dec. 1, 2002: Inkseep and Cohen discuss who is generally responsible for the overpayment when a listener is overcharged for the wrong birthday cake.
Nov. 17, 2002: Inkseep and Cohen tackle these questions: Is it OK to gloat privately at a former friend's misfortune? What should you do about the gift you really don't like but are afraid to toss?
Nov. 3, 2002: Inkseep and Cohen consider a listener's query: Is it ethical to pay teenagers less than adults for similar work?
March 30, 2002: Cohen discusses the ethical question that led the New York Times Magazine to select him to write the "Ethicist" column.
Oct. 20, 2001: Host Lisa Simeone talks to ethicists Randy Cohen and Thomas Murray about a hypothetical workplace scenario in anthrax-fearing times.
In Depth
A Tavis Smiley Show Quiz from the Ethicist
Other Resources
• The New York Times Magazine
• The Good, The Bad & The Difference Web site
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