RT Article
T1 Corporations as persons: Objections to goodpaster's ‘principle of moral projection’
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 6
IS 8
SP 633
OP 637
A1 Ranken, Nani L.
LA English
YR 1987
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785597701
AB Goodpaster's ‘principle of moral projection’ is intended to support a program of corporate moral improvement based on an analogy between persons and corporations. In this paper I try to show that the analogy breaks down at a crucial point — namely at the search for amotive for moral improvement. Further, the analogy may foster a tendency to suppose that corporations, like persons, have intrinsic value. I conclude that the analogy does more harm than good for the following reasons: (a) it distracts from the crucial question, which is, how can we motivate people to shape the institutions in which they work into morally better ones? and (b) it may reinforce a morally dangerous tendency to serve corporations for their own sakes.
K1 Moral Projection
K1 Moral Improvement
K1 Crucial Question
K1 Crucial Point
K1 Economic Growth
DO 10.1007/BF00705779