Summary
Highlights
A moral agent is defined as a person capable of discerning right from wrong and being held accountable for their actions. They have a moral responsibility to avoid causing unjustified harm.
Traditionally, moral agency is attributed to those responsible for their actions. Children and adults with certain mental disabilities may lack or have limited moral agency. Adults with full mental capacity only lose their moral agency in extreme circumstances, such as being held hostage.
By expecting people to act as moral agents, we hold them accountable for harm caused. The video raises questions about whether corporations, developing artificial intelligence, and socially intelligent non-human animals like dolphins and elephants can possess moral agency. Future philosophers and legal scholars will need to address these complex issues.