ONLINE FIRST
published on March 6, 2024
Andr¨¦s Felipe L¨®pez Latorre

, Ulf Thoene

https://doi.org/10.5840/bpej202434152
Corporations as Imperfect Communities
Toward a Theory of Business and Human Rights
This article presents an alternative understanding of corporations from the two problematic visions that see corporations as either the shareholders¡¯ property or as nexuses of contracts. The alternative proposed here is based on the theories of pre-eighteenth-century philosophers, particularly Aristotle¡¯s political philosophy, which Thomas Aquinas later refined. The article aims to advance a theory of corporate legal and moral responsibility for human rights based on the conception of corporations as imperfect communities whose purpose is to produce a good or service through participatory work that allows individuals to self-develop while contributing to the community by satisfying consumers¡¯ needs through collaborative work. The critical account of corporations presented here provides a sound foundation upon which to build a justification of corporate responsibility for human rights violations, providing a more accurate description of the reality of a corporation than most mainstream contemporary accounts do.