ABSTRACT
Chapter 4, “Moral status,” discusses key concepts related to moral status that will be relevant in this book. What are some of the main theories about who we have moral duties to, and what are some of the main arguments for and against these theories? Here we focus on speciesism, according to which all and only humans have moral status; rationalism, according to which all and only rational agents have moral status; sentientism, according to which all and only sentient beings have moral status; biocentrism, according to which all and only living beings have moral status; ecocentrism, according to which certain ecological systems (such as species and ecosystems) have moral status; and virtue, care, and relational theories, which are pluralistic and situational. We also discuss moral questions concerning risk and uncertainty, individual and collective responsibility, duties to people in other nations, and duties to people in future generations.
