The Reference of Corporate Proper Names and Responsibility Attributions

Abstract

It is clear that corporations are capable of being the subjects of moral responsibility predicates. We ascribe moral responsibility to corporations all the time. “Ford is responsible for deaths caused by safety deficiencies in its Ford Pinto model”. “BP is responsible for the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico”. “Union Carbide is responsible for thousands of deaths following an explosion at its Bhopal plant”. The list can go on and on. So far I have inquired whether corporations satisfy our necessary conditions for moral agency, while now I shall inquire what it is we are referring to when we use corporate names as the subjects of moral responsibility attributions. The following question needs an answer: what is the reference of corporate proper names when used in ascriptions of moral responsibility? Are we literally referring to something that may be called the corporate entity itself such as the structure, or are we referring to its members or perhaps both? As only moral agents can be attributed with moral responsibility this question is the flipside of asking if corporations have the necessary and sufficient characteristics for moral agency. The answer to this question will tell us what we are referring to when we make corporate moral responsibility attributions.