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Multiple Personalities Incorporated: Accepting The Multi-Dimensional Personhood Of The Modern Corporation, Susanna K. Ripken
Multiple Personalities Incorporated: Accepting The Multi-Dimensional Personhood Of The Modern Corporation, Susanna K. Ripken
Susanna K. Ripken
One of the most intriguing debates in corporate law is over the personhood of corporations. For years, corporate theorists have tried to construct a complete and coherent theory of the corporate person. Some have argued that the corporation is merely a fictional, artificial person that exists only as a concession of state law. Others have asserted that the corporation is a real, independent person that has an ontological existence and identity of its own. The popular theoretical paradigm today is that the corporation is neither an artificial nor a real person; it is merely a nexus of contracts among the …
Corporate Ethics, Agency, And The Theory Of The Firm, Robert J. Rhee
Corporate Ethics, Agency, And The Theory Of The Firm, Robert J. Rhee
Faculty Scholarship
This conference paper suggests that the problem of corporate ethics cannot be reduced to the autonomous person. Although the greatest influence on action and choice is one's moral constitution, it does not follow that the agent's behavior is the same within or without the firm. Ethics is a function of corporate form. The theory of agency cannot dismiss the firm as a fiction or metaphorical shorthand since that which does not exist should not be able to cause ethical breakdowns in corporate action. Thus, the theory of the firm, which emphasizes profit and wealth maximization, should incorporate a richer, more …
Corporate Ethics, Agency, And The Theory Of The Firm, Robert J. Rhee
Corporate Ethics, Agency, And The Theory Of The Firm, Robert J. Rhee
UF Law Faculty Publications
This conference paper suggests that the problem of corporate ethics cannot be reduced to the autonomous person. Although the greatest influence on action and choice is one's moral constitution, it does not follow that the agent's behavior is the same within or without the firm. Ethics is a function of corporate form. The theory of agency cannot dismiss the firm as a fiction or metaphorical shorthand since that which does not exist should not be able to cause ethical breakdowns in corporate action. Thus, the theory of the firm, which emphasizes profit and wealth maximization, should incorporate a richer, more …