Ethics and Corporations

A discussion of the difference between moral standards and other kinds of standards and whether or not corporations can be said to act morally or immorally

Category:

Education

Tags:

• business
• ethics
• corporate
• responsibility

[postorm]

You said several times that corporations act. They make products, for example. While it is usually necessary for many people to act, in order to achieve the action of the corporation, no single individual responsible for the action. A Ford car is the product of the Ford corporation and not of any individual, and the Ford corp. is held responsible for the car's safety.

Surely 'acts' are moral or immoral, not actors. If an act is immoral it is immoral whether actor is a human or a corporation?

[wmiller24]

Yes, actions can be moral or immoral regardless of who or what commits the action. The question that arises when a corporation creates a defective automobile, for example, is the question of accountability. Who is to be held responsible in this instance? If you punish the corporation, which is inanimate, how does this fulfill the requirements of retributive justice? Or is that the best that can be done? I'm not proposing the answer; this is simply one of the questions arises in business ethics.

[postorm]

Punishment has multiple purposes of which retribution is but one. Surely the prime purpose is prevention of the undesirable act. i.e deterrence. which is perfectly simple for a corporation that by definition cares only about profit: make the act unprofitable.

[passenger61]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with many people..