The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why
The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why
A philosopher calls for a revolution in ethics, suggesting we expand our “moral circle” to include insects, AI systems, and even microbes.
Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes, often unnecessarily. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and technology?
