Moral agency - wikipedia Moral agency For other senses of the word `` agency '', see Agency ( disambiguation ) and Free agency ( disambiguation ). This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2012 ) This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. ( November 2012 ) The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. ( November 2012 ) Moral agency is an individual 's ability to make moral judgments based on some notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions. A moral agent is `` a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong. '' Contents 1 Development and analysis 2 Distinction between moral agency and eligibility for moral consideration 3 Artificial moral agents 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References Development and analysis Most philosophers suggest only rational beings, who can reason and form self - interested judgments, are capable of being moral agents. Some suggest those with limited rationality ( for example, people who are mildly mentally disabled or infants ) also have some basic moral capabilities. Determinists argue all of our actions are the product of antecedent causes, and some believe this is incompatible with free will and thus claim that we have no real control over our actions. Immanuel Kant argued that whether or not our real self, the noumenal self, can choose, we have no choice but to believe that we choose freely when we make a choice. This does not mean that we can control the effects of our actions. Some Indeterminists would argue we have no free will either. If, with respect to human behaviour, a so - called ' cause ' results in an indeterminate number of possible, so - called ' effects ', that does not mean the person had the free - thinking independent will to choose that ' effect '. More likely, it was the indeterminate consequence of his chance genetics, chance experiences and chance circumstances relevant at the time of the ' cause '. In Kant 's philosophy, this calls for an act of faith, the faith free agent is based on something a priori, yet to be known, or immaterial. Otherwise, without free agent 's a priori fundamental source, socially essential concepts created from human mind, such as justice, would be undermined ( responsibility implies freedom of choice ) and, in short, civilization and human values would crumble. It is useful to compare the idea of moral agency with the legal doctrine of mens rea, which means guilty mind, and states that a person is legally responsible for what he does as long as he should know what he is doing, and his choices are deliberate. Some theorists discard any attempts to evaluate mental states and, instead, adopt the doctrine of strict liability, whereby one is liable under the law without regard to capacity, and that the only thing is to determine the degree of punishment, if any. Moral determinists would most likely adopt a similar point of view. Psychologist Albert Bandura has observed that moral agents engage in selective moral disengagement in regards to their own inhumane conduct. Distinction between moral agency and eligibility for moral consideration Many philosophers, such as Kant, view morality as a transaction among rational parties, i.e., among moral agents. For this reason, they would exclude other animals from moral consideration. Others, such as Utilitarian philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer have argued the key to inclusion in the moral community is not rationality -- for if it were, we might have to exclude some disabled people and infants, and might also have to distinguish between the degrees of rationality of healthy adults -- but the real object of moral action is the avoidance of suffering. This is the argument from marginal cases. Artificial moral agents The term artificial moral agent has taken on two usages. The first is in debates on whether it is possible for an artificial system to be a moral agent - see artificial systems and moral responsibility. The second usage stems from efforts to construct machines with ethically - significant behaviors - see machine ethics. The proper distinction between these two usages has itself been a key point of debate. See also Agency ( LDS Church ) Ethics Fiduciary Free will Medical ethics Morality Argument from marginal cases Notes ^ Jump up to : Angus, Taylor ( 2003 ). Animals & Ethics : An Overview of the Philosophical Debate. Peterborough, Ontario : Broadview Press. p. 20. Jump up ^ `` Moral, '' Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, p. 943. Jump up ^ Hargrove, Eugene C., ed. ( 1992 ). The Animal Rights, Environmental Ethics Debate : The Environmental Perspective. Albany : State Univ. of New York Press. pp. 3 -- 4. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7914 - 0933 - 6. Jump up ^ Bandura, Albert ( June 2002 ). `` Selective Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency ''. Journal of Moral Education. 31 ( 2 ) : 101 -- 119. doi : 10.1080 / 0305724022014322. References Singer, Peter, Animal Liberation, 1975. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moral_agency&oldid=797416128 '' Categories : Intention Morality Personhood Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from November 2012 All articles needing additional references Articles with limited geographic scope from November 2012 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2014 Articles needing more detailed references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 26 August 2017, at 22 : 52. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what does it mean to be a moral agent
Answer: a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong