Collective Agents and Communicative Theories of Punishment

Abstract

In this paper I argue that a communicative theory of punishment of the sort advocated by Anthony Duff – cannot be extended to cover corporate bodies, such as corporations and nations. The problem does not arise from the fact that on the communicative view the point of punishment is to induce regret or remorse, and that corporate bodies cannot be the subject of such emotions. This problem can be solved. A more difficult problem arises when we ask why we should care that certain agents feel and feeland express remorse or regret. The sorts of answers to this question that the communicative theorist can appeal to when the punishment of individuals is in question do not have any obvious analogue on the collective level.

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