The Ethics of Bankruptcy

by Jukka Kilpi

Overview

The fundamental ethical problem in bankruptcy is that insolvents have promised to pay their debts but can not keep their promise. The Ethics of Bankruptcy examines the morality of bankruptcy. The author compares and contrasts the Humean doctrine of promises as useful conventions with the Kantian view of autonomous agency constituting promissory obligations; he explores ethical concerns raised by forgiveness, utilitarianism and distributive justice and the moral aspects of insolvents' contractual, fiduciary, tortious and criminal liability. Finally, the author assesses recent bankruptcy law reforms. Bankruptcies severly hurt creditors and society. For the insolvents and their families the experience is painful and stigmatising, yet philosophers have paid little attention to the moral aspects of this violent social phenomenon. The Ethics of Bankruptcy is the first comprehensive study that employs the tools of ethics to examine the controversies surrounding insolvency, which makes valuable and sometimes controversial reading in a decade recovering from the Recession.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134694433
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/08/2002
Series:	Professional Ethics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	295 KB

About the Author

Kilpi, Jukka

Table of Contents

Series Editors’ foreword, Acknowledgements, Prologue, Part I The ethical trouble and its makers: a perennial plague, 1. The institution and the conflicts behind it Institutional history, Part II. Philosophical fundamentals of credit: should debts be paid?, 2. Natural law, consequentialism and contractualism: theories of promising and their shortfalls, 3. In search of the ultimate obligation: why a metaethical affair?, 4. Ethics founded on autonomy: a modest objectivist foundationalist interpretation of Kant, 5. Autonomy and promissory obligations, Part III. Ethical principles of insolvency: should debts always be paid?, 6. Going broke, breaking promises, 7. Deontological ethics and insolvency, 8. What kind of discharge?, Part IV. In defence of dunning: a counterattack, 9. Propping up civil liability: contract, breach of trust and tort, 10. Punishment, Part V. Applying the principles: a current affair, 11. Bankruptcy law reform: an ethical perspective, 12. Gearing up, crashing loud: should high-flyers be punished for insolvency?, Part VI. The corporate veil: chador or gauze?, 13. Corporate moral personhood, 14. Moral responsibility for corporate debts, Epilogue, Notes, Bibliography, Index

Editorial Reviews

The author draws on experience in public administration and banking as well as his extensive academic background in philosophy (doctorate from Monash U., Melbourne, Australia). He addresses ethical concerns raised by duty-based principles, utilitarianism, forgiveness, and distributive justice, as well as the moral aspects of insolvents' contractual, fiduciary, tortious, and criminal liability. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

'An important contribution to the literature ... [which] certainly advances the bankruptcy debate ... a book worth reading.' - Journal of Law and Society

From the Publisher