Corporate Moral Agency and the Role of the Corporation in Society

Download or read book Corporate Moral Agency and the Role of the Corporation in Society written by David Ronnegard and published by . This book was released on 2007-06 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PhD thesis, London School of Economics: The thesis is an analysis of the corporation in society which spans the disciplines of Ethics, Law, Economics and Political Philosophy. Part One challenges the position, generally accepted in Business Ethics, that a corporation qualifies as a moral agent. The thesis analyses the most prominent theories of corporate moral agency and concludes that the corporation itself is not a moral agent. The thesis argues that attributions of moral responsibility to corporations are an elliptical way of referring to the responsibility of individuals. Part Two traces the historical development of the corporate legal form in English and American law and argues that the corporate form is a legal agent. The thesis takes issue with the Corporate Social Responsibility movement and argues that many of its prescriptions rest on a mistaken premise of corporate moral agency. Further, the thesis suggests that many CSR issues are better addressed through legal enactments by government.