Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:14:59.850Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Collectives’ and individuals’ obligations: a parity argument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Stephanie Collins  and
Holly Lawford-Smith
Stephanie Collins*
Affiliation:
Politics, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Holly Lawford-Smith
Affiliation:
Philosophy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: stephanie.collins@manchester.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Individuals have various kinds of obligations: keep promises, don’t cause harm, return benefits received from injustices, be partial to loved ones, help the needy and so on. How does this work for group agents? There are two questions here. The first is whether groups can bear the same kinds of obligations as individuals. The second is whether groups’ pro tanto obligations plug into what they all-things-considered ought to do to the same degree that individuals’ pro tanto obligations plug into what they all-things-considered ought to do. We argue for parity on both counts.

Keywords

Collective obligationcollective responsibilityindividual obligationgroup agencydemandingnesspromiseswrongdoingbenefitbeneficenceassociative obligation
Type
Distinguished Lecture
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 38 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barry, Christian. 2005. “Applying the Contribution Principle.” Metaphilosophy 36: 210–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Björnsson, Gunnar and Brülde, Bengt. Forthcoming. “Normative Responsibilities: Structure and Sources.” In Parental Responsibility in the Context of Neuroscience and Genetics, edited by Hens, Kristien, Horstkötter, Dorothee, andCutas, Daniela, Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Björnsson, Gunnar and Hess, Kendy. Forthcoming. ‘Corporate Crocodile Tears? On the Reactive Attitudes of Corporate Agents.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.Google Scholar
Broome, John. 2012. Climate Matters: Ethics in a Warming World. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Butt, Daniel. 2007. “On Benefiting from Injustice.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 37(1): 129–152.10.1353/cjp.2007.0010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butt, Daniel. 2014. “‘A Doctrine Quite New and Altogether Untenable’: Defending the Beneficiary Pays Principle.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 31(4): 336–348.10.1111/japp.12073CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caney, Simon. 2014. “Two Kinds of Climate Justice: Avoiding Harm and Sharing Burdens.” Journal of Political Philosophy 22(2): 125–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crano, William D., andPislin, Radmila, eds. 2010. Attitudes and Attitude Change. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Cullity, Garrett. 2004. The Moral Demands of Affluence. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinberg, Joel. 1968. “Collective Responsibility.” Journal of Philosophy 65: 674–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, Peter. 1984. Collective and Corporate Responsibility. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, Peter A. 1979. “The Corporation as a Moral Person.” American Philosophical Quarterly 16(3): 207–215.Google Scholar
Gilbert, Margaret. 2002. “Collective Guilt and Collective Guilt Feelings.” The Journal of Ethics 6(2): 115–143.10.1023/A:1015819615983CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, Robert E. 1985. Protecting the Vulnerable. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goodin, Robert E., andBarry, Christian. 2014. “Benefiting from the Wrongdoing of Others.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 31(4): 363–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haydar, Bashshar, and Øverland, Gerhard. 2014. “The Normative Implications of Benefiting from Injustice.” Journal of Philosophy 31(4): 349–362.Google Scholar
Heatherton, Todd F., and Weinberger, Joel Lee, eds. 1994. Can Personality Change? Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedahl, Marcus. 2013. “The Collective Fallacy: The Possibility of Irreducibly Collective Action without Corresponding Collective Moral Responsibility.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 43(3): 283–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Held, Virginia. 1970. “Can a Random Collection of Individuals Be Morally Responsible?” The Journal of Philosophy 67(14): 471–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, Kendy M. 2014. “The Free Will of Corporations (and Other Collectives).” Philosophical Studies 168: 241–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hindriks, Frank. 2008. “The Freedom of Collective Agents.” Journal of Political Philosophy 16(2): 165–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, David. 1976. “Survival and Identity.” In The Identities of Persons, edited by Rorty, Amélie, 17–40. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
List, Christian, andPettit, Philip. 2011. Group Agency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, John. 1689. Two Treatises of Government. London: Awnsham Churchill.Google Scholar
Mill, John. 1859. On Liberty. London: J. W. Parker and Son.Google Scholar
Miller, David. 2004. “Holding Nations Responsible.” Ethics 114: 240–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, Eric T. 2010. ‘Personal Identity.’ In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Zalta, Edward N.. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/.Google Scholar
Owens, David. 2006. “A Simple Theory of Promising.” Philosophical Review 115(1): 51–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasternak, Avia. 2011. “Sharing the Costs of Political Injustices.” Politics, Philosophy & Economics 10(2): 188–210.10.1177/1470594X10368260CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasternak, Avia. 2013. “Limiting States’ Corporate Liability’.” Journal of Political Philosophy 21(4): 361–381.10.1111/j.1467-9760.2012.00423.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasternak, Avia. 2014. “Voluntary Benefits from Wrongdoing.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 31(4): 377–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, Philip, andSchweikard, David. 2006. “Joint Actions and Group Agents.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 36: 18–39.10.1177/0048393105284169CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 2007. “Responsibility Incorporated.” Ethics 117: 141–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pogge, Thomas. 2002. World Poverty and Human Rights. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Reidy, David. 2004. “Rawls on International Justice: A Defense.” Political Theory 32: 291–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richie, Katherine. 2013. “What Are Groups?” Philosophical Studies 166: 257–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheffler, Samuel. 1997. “Relationships and Responsibilities.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 26: 189–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheffler, Samuel. 2001. Boundaries and Allegiances: Problems of Justice and Responsibility in Liberal Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scheve, Christian von, andSalmela, Mikko, eds. 2014. Collective Emotions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarz, Wolfgang. 2014. “Belief Update across Fission.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science [Early View] 1–24.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Wolfgang. 2014. “Counterpart Theory and the Paradox of Occasional Identity.” Mind 123(492): 1058–1094.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwitzgebel, Eric. 2015. “If Materialism is True, the United States is Probably Conscious.” Philosophical Studies 172: 1697–1721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, David K., and Cohen, Geoffrey L.. 2006. “The Psychology of Self-defence: Self-affirmation Theory.” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38: 183–242.Google Scholar
Shiffrin, Seana. 2008. “Promising, Intimate Relationships and Conventionalism.” Philosophical Review 117(4): 481–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, Peter. 2015. The Most Good You Can Do. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Stilz, Anna. 2011. “Collective Responsibility and the State.” Journal of Political Philosophy 19(2): 190–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Janna. 2006. “Collective Responsibility for Historic Injustices.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 30(1): 154–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, Jennifer, andBanda, Maria. 2010. “International Law and the Responsibility to Protect: Clarifying or Expanding States’ Responsibilities?” Global Responsibility to Protect 2: 213–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wringe, Bill. 2014. “Collective Obligations: Their Existence, Their Explanatory Power, and their Supervenience on the Obligations of Individuals.” European Journal of Philosophy 21/4 [early view].Google Scholar