In judging whether an action is morally good or

bad, or morally right or wrong, we determine

whether this action conforms or violates our
moral standards or principles.
Moral Personhood
Moral Personhood
What does it mean to be a person?
Rights refers to interests one is allowed to pursue
or actions one is allowed to do.

Ex: Humans have the right to live.

 Duties are actions that we ought to do or
perform. It is expressed in forms of commands,
laws or imperative like the duties expressed in
Ten Commandments.
1. Negative Right – if one’s possession of
right imposes only the duty of non-
interference on the other people.

Example: Right to use the library

2. Positive Right - if one’s possession of right
imposes only the duty of provision in
addition to non-interference on the other
people.

Example: Right to know certain information

1. Contractual Rights– rights that we acquire when
we enter into agreement or a contract with
some other persons or institutions.
A. Formal –when the rights of the parties of the
contract, along with other correlative duties,
are explicitly stated usually in some written
document
B. Informal –if such rights and duties are merely
implied
2. Legal Rights– rights that we acquire when
we become citizens of a certain country
or state.
Example: A migrant renounces his/her
former citizenship to convert to another.
3. Moral Rights– rights that we acquire when
we become a moral person or a member
of the moral community.
Defining qualities of moral personhood:
a. Sentience
b. Rationality
Ex: Anti-Age Discrimination in the Employment Act in 2006
Moral Agents – act as the sources of
morally valuable actions, in that they
are the doer of such actions.

Moral Patients – act as the receiver of

such actions, in that such actions are
done to them.
1. Non-agentive moral persons
-moral persons who cannot be moral agents
-can only function as moral patients
Ex: infants, mentally challenged humans or even
animals
2. Agentive moral persons
-moral persons who can be moral agents
Ex: human adult, corporations
I. Uni-criterial Theories of Personhood

a. Genetic Theory
b. Life Theory
c. Rational Theory
d. Sentient Theory
e. Relational Theory
It claims that the defining quality of a person is
the possession of human DNA or his/her
membership in the species Homo Sapiens.
It only considers humans as moral persons and
automatically excludes all forms of non-human
entities from the moral community.
It is used to justify the view that zygote are already
persons.
It contends that the defining feature of
personhood is the possession of life or is simply
being alive.

Life in all its forms is sacred.

It contends that the defining feature of
personhood is the capacity for rationality, which
consists of the capacities for reason and free will
/choice.

Deontological ethics assume this view.

It claims that the defining feature of personhood
is sentience alone.
Hedonistic Consequentialism assumes this view.
It excludes certain entities who have lost their
capacity for sentience like paralyzed person,
person in persistent vegetative state, rivers, trees.
It claims that the defining feature of personhood
is the relationship one has with other entities.
Caring relationship which brings about moral
duties or obligations to the caring parties is
limited to human relationship but can be
extended with non-human nature.
II. Multi-criterial Theories of Personhood

Example:
Cognitive Theory of Personhood
-Mary Anne Warren's theory (1946-2010)
-define a person as one who has the capacities for:
1. 1. Consciousness (sentience)
2. 2. Reasoning (rationality)
3. 3. Self-motivated activity
4. 4. Communication
5. 5. Self-concept and self-awareness
Conjunctive Construal
-refer to as a strict interpretation
-the combination requires the occurrence of all
its components
Disjunctive Construal
-refers to the liberal interpretation
-the combination requires only the occurrence of
at least one among its component features
Ex: Warren's cognitive theory

*strict interpretation
-this theory implies that entities are persons
only if they possess both features of
sentience and rationality
Ex: Warren's cognitive theory

*liberal interpretation
-entities are persons if they possess either
sentience or rationality
Consequentialism
Deontology
Virtue Ethics
It judges the morality of action in terms of
the quality of their consequences
It judges the morality of the actions in
terms of their adherence to moral
studies or conformity to laws that define
the moral duties.
It judges the morality of actions in terms of
the general character of persons who
perform such actions.
Sentience
-highlighted in Hedonistic Consequentialism

Rationality
-highlighted in Kantian Deontology and the
Aristotelian version of virtue ethics

Relationality
- highlighted in some versions of virtue ethics
such as care ethics, Confucian Ethics and
Buddhist Ethics
1. those possessing any one of these features
2. those possessing any of these features
3. those possessing all these three features
II. Meta-criterial Theories of Personhood

1. Social theory
It contends that personhood is a social construct or is a
mere creation of society.

2. Gradient theory
It claims that personhood comes in degrees and moral
persons possess the defining features of personhood
in varying degrees.
1. rationality as the criterion of personhood
-this means that the person who is more
rational has greater personhood, or is more of
a person than the person who is less rational

2. both rationality and sentience were the

criteria of the personhood
- a person who is both rational and sentient
has greater personhood than a person who is
either merely rational
Their problematic consequence of justifying the
inhumane treatment of one group of persons by
another group.
Ex:
1. Social theory
The slaves were treated as mere properties by their
masters.
2. Gradient theory
The inhumane act of ethnic cleansing