Question

Are corporations moral agents? Do they have moral responsibilities? Or in your view, do only human beings have moral agency and moral obligations?

Answer 1

Corporations can have different primary goals.
For e.g for a NSE Listed for profit company, it might be to deliver profit and the highest possible returns to its shareholders.
However all organizations work in the society. And as such society is always a stakeholder in any organizations actions. The society provides resources to the organization and is also a recepients of its services and products.

In such a line it can be said that going against societs interests would be detrimental to any organization who operates in the society in the long term. For e.g a drug manufacturer might sell harmful drugs to the customers to make higher profits., But this can lead the organization into potential legal suits and will also lead to loss of trust by the customers into the company. This in turn will impact the value of the company.

Thus we see that many organizations world over are talking about the concept of corporate social responsibility. It is one of the ways by which organizations fulfill their moral responsibilities to the organizations.

Thus in conclusion we can say that though all corporations might not necessarily be moral agents, the corporations do have moral responsibilities and fulfillment of such responsibilities is always in such corporations best long term interests.