Harm

Harm can be accounted for in several ways.  Most basically, and uncontroversially, it involves bodily injury.  One can also be harmed if damage or injury is done to one’s interests, or if a violation against one’s rights occurs (See Rights).

‘Do not harm’ is, for most all moral systems, a central principle.

A distinction can be made between doing harm and allowing harm, although one may be held morally responsible for either.  If, for example, a schoolteacher strikes a child, we would say that the teacher is doing harm.  If the schoolteacher allows one student to strike another, without interference or punishment, we would say that the teacher is allowing harm.  In either case, however, the teacher would be held to some degree of accountability for his/her actions (or lack thereof).

There are many ways in which the issue of harm arises in the ethics of business and finance.  The basis of many lawsuits brought against corporations, for example, is the claim that the company’s product, or the production of that product, resulted in harm to the plaintiff.