Episode 56: Philip Pettit discusses corporate rights and responsibilities
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Why do we consider corporations as capable of having rights and responsibilities?
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Hello and welcome to Elucidations, a philosophy podcast recorded at the University of Chicago. I'm Matt Teichman, and I'm Mark Hopwood. With us today is Philip Pettit, Lawrence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University, and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. And he is here to talk with us about corporate rights and responsibilities. Philip Pettit, welcome.
Thank you.
So to some people today, I think the the very idea of talking about um corporations being the kinds of things that could have rights and responsibilities might seem somewhat suspicious. I mean we we talk about people having rights and responsibilities, but corporations are really different and it might seem like an odd idea that we could talk about them as having rights and responsibilities. So Why would we think that they did? Why would we think that this was an important thing to talk about?
Well, I think that it might be better to start with the idea of responsibilities. Let me just tell you a story of because it's a story that actually influenced my own thinking about this. In nineteen eighty nine the Herald of Free Enterprise, which was a a sea ferry operating between Holland and Great Britain, sank in Zebrugger in Holland, and I think nearly two hundred people lost their lives on that occasion. There was an outcry as you can imagine. There was a government report. And the government report said about the company involved. that it really was had a dreadful culture, that the ethos of the company was responsible for the deaths, I mean nearly two hundred deaths, mainly because it wasn't that the people on that particular ferry did anything unusual on that day.
In fact they followed procedures that had been long laid down within the company. It's just the procedures were extremely uh sloppy. and indeed had not been subject to review, or every review had been done over the years, was always itself quite sloppy. and um they argued strongly that the company as such, rather than any individual as such, was really the one that was blameworthy, the entity that was blameworthy. As a result the the British government actually took that company to court and charging it under criminal law. And the court finding was very interesting, which was that they argue that a company, not being an individual, an actual person, could not be held criminally liable under English law at the time.
and that since actually you couldn't identify any individual who had been particularly responsible on that occasion, by virtue of either omission or doing something uh sloppily, that no one could really be held seriously culpable or liable. There were some minor charges brought successfully, I believe, but there was general outrage, which I must say I felt reading about it at the time, that this could happen, that a company Could be identified under a perfectly good report using common sense notions as responsible for these deaths, and yet under law could not be recognized as responsible. I think that's what really stimulated my thinking about it. Now, I suspect that most people feel, yes, it is possible for a company to be responsible, meaning it's an entity that's fit to be held responsible.
There's nothing incoherent about laying the blame. Blame at the door of an entity of that kind. Or think about the BP disaster, you know, just some years ago. I mean, nobody balked at the idea that BP should be held responsible, or indeed the other companies involved, or think of the Exon Valdez and the company involved there, the environmental destruction in Alaska. Again, no one balked at that. So I think the idea of a company being held responsible actually has a place in common sense.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why do we consider corporations as capable of having rights and responsibilities?
0:00–10:10
2
What historical case sparked the idea that corporations can be held blameworthy?
10:10–20:02
3
How does the concept of a “corporate agent” differ from an individual agent?
20:02–25:39
4
What is the “discursive dilemma” and why does it matter for group agents?
25:39–31:59
5
How do the “agentialist” and “humanist” views differ on corporate rights?
31:59–37:29
6
What limits should be placed on corporate political spending and patronage?
37:29–45:09
7
Why is it important to restrict corporate legal privileges to protect individuals?
45:09–52:31
8
What practical guidelines does Pettit propose for assigning rights to corporations?
52:31–53:03
Speakers
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