PHIL 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Peter French, Reinforcement, Moral Agency
Document Summary
In this section, we will investigate whether it makes sense to say that businesses (as entities separate from the people that make them up) should be ethical. That is, the question is whether it makes sense to say that, for example, general motors itself has obligations, or whether it is merely the managers and employees of gm that have obligations. This section will give you a general introduction to the question of whether corporations are the sorts of things that can have moral responsibilities. Think of the sorts of things we do and don"t ascribe moral responsibility to. The largest and most obvious category is other people. We accord less (but usually still some) moral responsibility to young children and the mentally ill. In extreme cases (infants, those with sever mental illness or other mental disability) we may reserve moral judgment altogether. Animals, likewise, are seldom thought of as morally responsible for what they do.
