Corporations as Moral Entities

The corporation as a moral entity refers to the idea that corporations in themselves are moral agents and can be ascribed moral blame or praise, at a distinct level from their constitutive members. The discussion in business ethics is part of the larger individualist-collectivist debate over the moral status of collectives, bearing multidisciplinary implications, from an ontological debate within theoretical philosophy to liability discourse in the legal field, as well as an economic and political debate. It refers not only to whether corporations are moral agents in a given situation, but rather to a more fundamental issue, concerning whether corporations are capable of being and acting as moral agents. With no decisive argument for or against corporate capacity to display moral agency, the issue is still under debate today, as scholars invoke various criteria which could determine what possessing...

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