engage in selective moral disengagement in regards to their own inhumane conduct. Distinction between moral agency and moral patienthood Philosophers distinguish between moral agents, entities whose actions are eligible for moral consideration, and moral patients, entities that themselves are eligible 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 Discussions of artificial moral agency center around a few main ideas. The first discussion is on whether it is possible for an artificial system to be a moral agent - see artificial systems and moral responsibility. The second discussion concerns efforts to construct machines with ethically-significant behaviors - see machine ethics. Finally, there is debate about if robots should be constructed as moral agents. The proper distinction between these idea has itself been a key point of debate. Research has shown that humans do perceive robots as having varying degrees of moral agency, and those perceptions can manifest in two forms: (1) ideas about a robot’s moral capacity (the ability to be/do good or bad) and (2) ideas about its (in)dependence on programming (where high dependency equates to low agency). Robots are held more responsible for their (im)moral behaviors than are humans. Non-human animals Discussion of moral agency in non-human animals involves both debate about the nature of morality and about the capacities and behavior of human and non-human animals. Thinkers who agree about the nature, behavior and abilities of different species may still disagree about which capacities are important for moral agency or about the significance of particular behaviors in determining moral agency. Since moral agents are often thought to warrant particular moral consideration, this discussion is sometimes linked to debates in animal rights about practices involving non-human animals. Studies of animal biology and behavior have provided strong evidence of complex social structures and behavioral norms in non-human species. There is also