ABSTRACT
Why should we do what we ought to do? What is it about the right actions that makes them right? Likewise, why shouldn’t we do what we ought not to do? What is it about the wrong actions that makes them wrong? Moral theories propose answers to these questions. This chapter surveys the moral theories that have been most influential in recent animal ethics, including utilitarianism, the rights view, virtue ethics, and care ethics. It also offers a brief glimpse into the “critical turn” in moral theorizing, which sets aside standard questions about right-making and wrong-making features of individual actions, focusing instead on diagnosing what’s wrong with the social structures within which those actions occur.
