Group agency
Subtitle: the possibility, design, and status of corporate agents
By: Christian List and Philip Pettit
Contributors: Pettit, Philip, 1945-
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9780199591565
Subjects: Group identity; Social choice; Agent (Philosophy); Juristic persons
Description: Are companies, churches, and states genuine agents? Or are they just collections of individual agents that give a misleading impression of unity? This question is important, since the answer dictates how we should explain the behavior of these entities and whether we should treat them as responsible and accountable on the model of individual agents. This book offers a new approach to that question, arguing that there really are group or corporate agents, over and above the individual agents who compose them, and that a proper approach to the social sciences, law, morality, and politics must take account of this fact. Unlike some earlier defenses of group agency, this account is entirely non-mysterious in character and, despite not being technically difficult, is grounded in cutting-edge work in social choice theory, economics, and philosophy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [202]-213) and indexes.