Moral Patienthood (Wikipedia)

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Wikipedia·en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood

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Foundational philosophical reference for understanding which entities deserve moral consideration, directly relevant to AI welfare debates and questions about whether advanced AI systems could or should be treated as moral patients.

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Importance: 45/100wiki pagereference

Summary

This Wikipedia article defines and explores the concept of moral patienthood—the property of being an entity that deserves moral consideration and whose interests matter morally. It covers philosophical criteria for moral patienthood, including sentience, sapience, and personhood, and discusses which entities (humans, animals, AI systems) might qualify. The article is relevant to debates about AI consciousness and the ethical treatment of artificial agents.

Key Points

•A moral patient is an entity whose wellbeing matters morally and toward whom moral agents have obligations, distinct from moral agents who bear responsibilities.
•Common criteria for moral patienthood include sentience (capacity to feel pleasure/pain), sapience, and the ability to have interests.
•The question of whether AI systems could be moral patients is increasingly relevant as AI becomes more sophisticated.
•Different ethical frameworks (utilitarian, Kantian, rights-based) apply different criteria for determining moral patienthood.
•Expanding the circle of moral patienthood has historically included animals and may eventually need to address artificial minds.

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# Moral patienthood

Moral patienthood

State of mattering morally

**Moral patienthood**[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-1) (also called **moral patience**,[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-2) **moral patiency**,[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-3) **moral status**,[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:0-4)[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:2-5) and **moral considerability**[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:12-6)) is the state of being eligible for moral consideration by a [moral agent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_agent "Moral agent").[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:0-4) In other words, the [morality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality "Morality") of an action depends at least partly on how it affects those beings that possess moral patienthood, which are called _moral patients_[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-7) or _morally considerable beings_.[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:12-6)

Notions of moral patienthood in non-human animals[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-8)[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-9) and artificial entities[\[10\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-10)[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-11) have been academically explored. More detail on the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, specifically, can be seen at the [Animal rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_rights "Animal rights") article.

## Definition

Most authors define moral patients as "beings that are appropriate objects of direct moral concern".[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:0-4) This category may include moral agents, and usually does include them. For instance, [Charles Taliaferro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taliaferro "Charles Taliaferro") says: "A moral agent is someone who can bring about events in ways that are praiseworthy or subject to blame. A moral patient is someone who can be morally mistreated. All moral agents are moral patients, but not all moral patients (human babies, some nonhuman animals) are moral agents."[\[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-12)

### Narrow usage

Some authors use the term in a more narrow sense, according to which moral patients are "beings who are appropriate objects of direct moral concern but are _not_ (also) moral agents".[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_patienthood#cite_note-:0-4) [Tom Regan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Regan "Tom Regan")'s _[The Case for Animal Rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Animal_Rights "The Case for Animal Rights")_ used the term in this narrow sense.[\[13\]](https://e

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