Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
Sometimes reactive attitudes target groups rather than individuals. This suggests that groups are sometimes morally responsible. A growing number of moral philosophers agree with this, yet fail to recognize just how diverse the set of morally responsible groups is. Dominant approaches to group responsibility thus suggest that only one type of group is morally responsible, namely, those groups that have emergent capacities that mirror the agential capacities of rational and normatively competent individuals. Let us call these fully-formed groups. However, some of our reactive attitudes target not only fully-formed groups but also what I will call aberrant groups, namely, groups that lack one or more of the capacities possessed by fully-formed groups …

Nicolai K Knudsen, A Pluralist Approach to Joint Responsibility, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Volume 51, Issue 2, Spring 2023, pages 140-165. First published: 29 March 2023.