Moral patienthood[1] (also called moral patience,[2]moral patiency,[3] and moral status[4][5]) is the state of being eligible for moral consideration by a moral agent.[4] In other words, the morality of an action can depend on how it affects or relates to moral patients.
Notions of moral patienthood in non-human animals[6][7] and artificial entities[8][9] have been academically explored.
^Jaworska, Agnieszka; Tannenbaum, Julie (2023), "The Grounds of Moral Status", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2023 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2024-04-16
^Lan T, Sinhababu N, Carrasco LR (2022)
Recognition of intrinsic values of sentient beings
explains the sense of moral duty towards global
nature conservation. PLoS ONE 17(10): e0276614.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276614
^Müller, N.D. (2022). Kantian Moral Concern, Love, and Respect. In: Kantianism for Animals. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01930-2_2
^Balle, S.N. Empathic responses and moral status for social robots: an argument in favor of robot patienthood based on K. E. Løgstrup. AI & Soc 37, 535–548 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01211-2