Companies are not living beings and as such they can not "be" evil. The evil or good stems from us, living human beings and our behavior.
back
7 comments
I'd disagree on that. Humans are made of cells and yet we are ready to talk about humans not just cells. It's a higher level of abstraction with its own decisions. Same way, companies are made of humans yet they have power structures that make them behave in unique ways. They make decisions based on processes that maybe no human would approve. Sure, there is often a catalyst leader but the organization can move on without it.
That nowhere near a reasonable analogie, humans are agents in their own right, we have a brain.
A company has no will of it's own, anything in the interest of the firm but not in the interest of any of the employees, it won't happen.
The book called Creation by Steve Grand has great arguments in favor of the analogie. I came across it as the favorite book of Jeff Bezos.
Sorry, I know this is a weak response to your argument but it would be too much to cover here, I don't have the time and I'm not sure I should convince anybody anyway. If you want to shake your beliefs on what life and intelligence are, go read the book.
Appreciated, I will check it out
I get your point, but what prevents us from considering "evilness" an emergent property of organizations...?
What makes certain agglomerations of atoms "living beings"? I don't see a fundamental distinction between "alive" and "not alive" that would apply to humans yet would not also apply to larger organizations.
Now, the question of whether certain companies should be considered "evil" may not be something I want to spend a lot of time on, but the arbitrary philosophical distinction that only humans within those companies can be "evil" makes the discussion even less interesting.
Companies have a culture, which evolves over time and is driven by humans and their morals/priorities, reflected in their actions and handed down through "generations".
Yes, they can be evil.
Odd to consider an institution incapable of being beneficial or harmful to society - my best working definition of evil not steeped in religion.
Aren't companies "moral entities" by definition?
You are wrong! Corporate person hood is a thing. It just turns out that the definition of a corporation could also be the definition of a sociopath.