Abstract
The tragic crash of Air New Zealand's flight TE-901 into Mt. Erebus in Antarctica provides a fascinating case for the exploration of the notion of corporate moral responsibility. A principle of accountability that has Aristotelian roots and is significantly different from the usual strict intentional action principles is examined and defined. That principle maintains that a person can be held morally accountable for previous non-intentional behavior that has harmful effects if the person does not take corrective measures to adjust his ways of behavior so as not to produce repetitions. This principle is then applied to the Mt. Erebus disaster.
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He previously held posts at the Universities of Minnesota and Delaware. He is the recipient of the Amoco-Horace T. Morris Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education 1979 and the Governor of Minnesota's Certificate of Honor. His most important publications are:The Scope of Morality (1979) andEthics in Government (1982).
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French, P.A. The principle of responsive adjustment in corporate moral responsibility: The crash on mount erebus. J Bus Ethics 3, 101–111 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02388810
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02388810