People are responsible for their individual actions. But what about the company as an entity? In a new book titled The Moral Responsibility of Firms , authors Eric Orts and Craig Smith and contributor Amy Sepinwall argue that companies are indeed morally culpable.

Orts is a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton and director of the school’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership ; Smith is a professor of ethics and social responsibility at INSEAD, and Sepinwall is a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton. Orts and Sepinwall recently discussed the book on the Knowledge at Wharton show, which airs on SiriusXM channel 111 .

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Knowledge at Wharton: Why was it important to put together a book looking at moral responsibility for firms?

Eric Orts: There’s a very long-standing philosophical debate about whether organizations like business firms have a moral responsibility as firms themselves, or whether it’s only the…