ABSTRACT
The chapter approaches the topic of collective responsibility from a structural and functional basis rather than focusing on pro and con arguments regarding the principles of responsibility championed by ethicists of a methodological individualism persuasion. Clarifications are made regarding qualifications for membership in the moral community and distinctions are drawn regarding the types of moral responsibility that may be assessed when collections of people are morally evaluated, particularly when events in which they are involved break badly. Types of collectives then are sorted into two major groups: aggregate and conglomerate collectives, leading to a discussion of when reductive and non-reductive ascriptions of moral responsibility to various types of collectives are defensible. The final part of the chapter distinguishes corporate entities from ordinary conglomerate collectives. The bare bones of an argument are proffered to support the position that corporations are intricately evolved, complex, structurally and functionally integrated, and durable conglomerates that can meet the standard criteria of moral personhood and normative competency for moral community membership. Consequently their behavior may be subjected to moral assessment qua corporation and not merely as conglomerate or aggregate collectives.
