Leiden University Student Repository

Milevoj, Toni (2021)

What Makes Institutional Corruption Wrong

Master thesis | Philosophy (MA) (60 EC)

I aim to explore the possible answers to the question; what makes institutional corruption wrong? In particular, I provide an account of corruption based on institutional virtue theory. I come up with three conditions for corruption; viciousness, knowing an act could have particular effects, and the benefits one receives from it. These conditions are applicable on an individual and institutional level. I suggest my account benefits from avoiding the criticism directed at its alternatives (deontic and teleological views on the wrongness of corruption). It cannot overexplain the central concept of the text because it distinguishes corrupt acts from breaches of fiduciary duty through the third condition for corruption. With that, it avoids the charge of underexplaining, as it claims one-off acts are corrupt independent of their effect on an institution.

Corruption

Institutional Corruption

Institutional Virtues

Imperfect Duties

Wrongness

Fiduciary Duty

Seumas Miller

Author

Milevoj, Toni

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Moral and Political Philosophy

Supervisors

Bruno Verbeek

ECTS Credits

60

Language

en