Moral agency is a term used to denote somebody that has a capacity for making moral judgments and for taking actions that comport with morality. Morality is a complex of principles based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. ...

Development and analysis

Most philosophers suggest that only rational beings, people who can reason and form self-interested judgments, are capable of being moral agents. Some suggest that even people with limited rationality (for example, people who are mildly mentally disabled) have some basic moral capabilities. A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... The Scream, the famous painting commonly thought of as depicting the experience of mental illness. ...

Determinists would argue that all of our actions are the product of antecedent causes, there is no free will, and 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. This article is about the general notion of determinism in philosophy. ... Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... A painting of Immanuel Kant in his middle age Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 in Königsberg – February 12, 1804) was a German philosopher from Prussia, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... In the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a noumenon or thing in itself (German Ding an sich) is an unknowable, undescribable reality that, in some way, lies behind observed phenomena. ...

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. This article is about law in society. ... Mens rea is a criminal law concept which focuses on the mental state of the accused and requires proof of a positive state of mind such as intent, recklessness, or willful blindness. ... Strict liability is a legal doctrine in tort law that makes a person responsible for the damages caused by their actions regardless of culpability (fault) or mens rea. ... In society, punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant on a wrongdoer. ...

Distinction between moral agency and eligibility for moral consideration

Many, perhaps even most philosophers, tend to view morality as a transaction among rational parties, that is, among moral agents. For this reason (e.g., Kant), they would exclude other animals from moral consideration. Others state that one must draw a distinction between moral agency and being subject to moral considerations, and that too much emphasis is placed on rationality as a requirement for being part of what Michael E. Berumen calls the "moral realm." Berumen argues that the key to being eligible for moral consideration is not rationality, for if that were the case, we should have to exclude disabled people, infants, fetuses, and so forth, and that we even ought to distinguish among the degrees of rationality among otherwise normal adults. He says the real object of morality is to avoid or prevent suffering or dying (loss of consciousness), which thereby extends the moral realm to other animals. This is not dissimilar to the views of the animal rights philosopher, Peter Singer. Neither philosopher believes animals and humans need to be treated equally, but in some proportion to their capacity for suffering. In philosophy, the word rationality has been used to describe numerous religious and philosophical theories, especially those concerned with truth, reason, and knowledge. ... Michael E. Berumen (born 1952) is a philosopher and a Southern California businessman. ... Definition The moral realm is a phrase coined by philosopher Michael E. Berumen, and it refers to the collective members of the group eligible for moral consideration, which could conceivably consist of human beings, rational human beings, rational beings, sentient animals, nonsentient animals, plants, or inanimant objects. ... Prof. ...

See also

• Ethics
• Fiduciary
• Free will
• Medical ethics
• Morality