Business Ethics Chapter 9 Glossary

Facts about causal responsibility are not as precise as most facts of science. Some people think causal conditions are necessary conditions, but these “but for” conditions have difficulty with over-determination. Some think they are sufficient conditions, but these have difficulties with situations of joint production that are analogous to Adam Smith’s pin factory. Some think they are NESS conditions, but these have difficulty attributing causal responsibility for committee decisions.

The retrospective role of determining causal responsibility is the use, after implementation of the decision, of knowledge of causation to assign moral accountability (praise and blame) to the correct agent.

The predictive role of determining causal responsibility is the use by a moral agent of knowledge of cause and effect to foresee the results of her decision.

The distribution of moral accountability is a method of assigning moral accountability within the corporation without taking away the moral accountability of the corporation as a whole.

Corporate character is a corporation’s disposition to behave in ways that we can judge to be virtuous or vicious, which are determined by its ethical codes, compliance-mechanisms, climate, etc.

Holism regarding corporate accountability is the theory that the corporation as a whole is capable of moral agency, and thus can be morally accountable for the deeds of its agents and employees.

Reductionism regarding corporate accountability is the theory that we cannot hold a corporation to be morally accountable and that all moral accountability lies with individuals within the corporation.

A necessary condition is required to produce the outcome, but is not always enough to produce the outcome by itself.

A sufficient condition is enough to produce the outcome, but is not always required to produce the outcome.

An agent is causally responsible for an action and its consequences if her freely made decision brings about the action.

A moral agent can be assigned praise or blame, and can understand moral principles, respond to moral reasons, and be held morally accountable.