Muel Kaptein and Joha Wempe
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199255504
- eISBN:
- 9780191698248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255504.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability, Organization Studies
The difficulty in assessing corporations in moral terms is that the dominant ethical theories have been developed to evaluate human action. Since it is awkward to identify corporate actions in ...
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The difficulty in assessing corporations in moral terms is that the dominant ethical theories have been developed to evaluate human action. Since it is awkward to identify corporate actions in practice, applying these theories runs into difficulties. This is why many ethicists argue that corporations cannot be subjected to moral judgement. Chapter 3 showed that the corporation can be conceived as a moral subject. This chapter tries to determine which ethical concepts can be applied to the functioning of corporations. It describes three fundamental dilemmas based on an analysis of the corporate condition (i.e., dirty hands dilemma, many hands dilemma, and entangled hands dilemma). With a view to formulating criteria for corporations to address these dilemmas, it develops a contract theory for corporations.Less
The difficulty in assessing corporations in moral terms is that the dominant ethical theories have been developed to evaluate human action. Since it is awkward to identify corporate actions in practice, applying these theories runs into difficulties. This is why many ethicists argue that corporations cannot be subjected to moral judgement. Chapter 3 showed that the corporation can be conceived as a moral subject. This chapter tries to determine which ethical concepts can be applied to the functioning of corporations. It describes three fundamental dilemmas based on an analysis of the corporate condition (i.e., dirty hands dilemma, many hands dilemma, and entangled hands dilemma). With a view to formulating criteria for corporations to address these dilemmas, it develops a contract theory for corporations.
