Moral Agency without Consciousness
Canadian Journal of Philosophy June 30, 2025 Jen Semler
Phenomenal consciousness is not a necessary condition for moral agency. The paper argues that an entity can instantiate four key capacities—action, moral concept possession, responsiveness to moral reasons, and moral understanding—without being conscious. It defends a picture of nonconscious moral agency as a plausible account of an entity that can act for moral reasons and be morally responsible, and discusses broader implications, especially for the possibility of artificial moral agency.