Description
Book SynopsisThis anthology presents the best recent philosophical analyses of moral, political, and legal responsibility of groups and their members. Motivated by reflection on such events as the Holocaust, the exploding Ford Pintos, the My Lai massacre, and apartheid in South Africa, the essays consider two important questions: What collective efforts could have prevented these large-scale social harms? And is some group to blame and, if so, how is blame to be apportioned? Contributors:R.P. Lewis, Joel Feinberg, Howard McGary, D.E. Cooper, R.S. Downie, Virginia Held, Stanley Bates, Manuel Velasquez, Peter French, Richard T. DeGeorge, James Muyskens, Richard Wasserstrom, Kurt Bauer, Anthony Appiah, Larry May, A. Zvie Bar-on, and Hannah Arendt.
Trade ReviewThe editors have assembled an interesting and useful collection on questions of considerable contemporary importance. * Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political, and Legal Philosophy *
There is a wealth of material here to stimulate reflection. * Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Conceptual issues: collective responsibility (a critique) H.D. Lewis; collective responsibility - a defense, Joel Feinberg; morality and collective liability, Howard McGary; collective responsibility (another defense), D.E. Cooper; collective responsibility (a reply to Cooper), R.S. Downe; can a random collection of individuals be morally responsible?, Virginia Held; the responsibility of random collections (a reply to Held), Stanley Bates. Part 2 Applications: why corporations are not morally responsible for anything they do, Manuel Velasquez; the corporation as a moral person, Peter French; ethical responsibilities of engineers in large organizations - the Pinto case, Richard T. De George; collective responsibility and the nursing profession, James Muyskens; conduct and responsibilty in war, Richard Wasserstrom; guilt and responsibility, Kurt Baier; racism and moral pollution, Anthony Applah; metaphysical guilt and moral taint, Larry May; measuring responsibility, A. Zvie Bar-on; organized guilt and moral responsibility, Hannah Arendt.
