Implications of the Emergence Account (II) — Individual Moral Responsibility

Abstract

I have argued that corporate harm, suitably described, can only be the responsibility of a corporation; no combination of individual responsibilities can stand in its place. Corporations satisfy the conditions for moral responsibility for this harm in a sense that is collective but not distributive. They do this by virtue of emergent properties, which help satisfy the conditions for responsibility (for example, contributory fault) and shape the description of the harm being considered.