A Lockean Critique

Corporate Accountability and the Common Good

Abstract

Corporate personhood grants corporations legal rights similar to individuals, yet they often evade ethical responsibilities for their social, environmental, and economic impacts. While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encourages businesses to consider these broader obligations, it remains a voluntary framework without legal enforcement. This paper argues that corporations, like individuals, must bear ethical responsibilities, drawing on John Locke’s principles of property rights, consent, and natural rights as outlined in Two Treatises of Civil Government. By applying Locke’s philosophy to a case study of Nestlé, this paper examines how corporate practices frequently contradict ethical obligations, particularly in resource extraction, public consent, and stakeholder rights. Nestlé’s large-scale water extraction in Michigan exemplifies violations of Locke’s sufficiency and spoilage conditions, the disregard for community consent, and the neglect of natural rights. By extending Locke’s concept of the common good to corporate governance, this paper contends that CSR must evolve from a voluntary initiative into a binding ethical obligation, ensuring that corporations operate in ways that prioritize societal welfare alongside financial gain.