Corporate punishment: A proposal

Corporate Punishment: A Proposal is an exercise in logic and creative thinking. I shall argue that no good reasons exist for the supposition that corporations have rights independent of the rights and interests of the persons they serve and that the error of treating corporations as though they do have autonomous rights derives from a sloppy argument from analogy. I shall further argue that the analogy of corporations to citizens, though pushed too far by some courts and lawmakers, remains a useful analogy if its logical relations can be cleaned up and clarified. Finally, I shall conclude this essay by employing the refurbished analogy in such a way that it yields a proposal for more effective criminal punishment for corporate wrongdoing.Robert J. Rafalko received an A.B. in philosophy from the University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, an M.A. in philosophy from Tufts University, Medford, MA., and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. in 1984. He was the owner and operator of a retail bookstore. In 1982, Dr. Rafalko was the nominee of a major political party for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 10th Congressional District, Pennsylvania. Dr. Rafalko has taught philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. In 1988, he accepted an appointment at California State University, Bakersfield, CA, where he is currently teaching logic, political philosophy and business ethics. Dr. Rafalko is the author of an introductory logic textbook, Logic for an Overcast Tuesday, to be published by Wadsworth Publishing Co. in the winter of 1989–1990.