About: Moral circle expansion

Moral circle expansion is the process of increasing the number and type of entities given moral consideration over time and potentially into the future. While the general idea of moral inclusion underlies many social movements such as human rights and animal rights, the focus on general expansion has more recently developed, especially in relation to the animal rights and effective altruism movements, particularly the philosopher Peter Singer and the think tank Sentience Institute. There is significant debate on whether humanity actually has an expanding moral circle, such as the lack of a uniform border of growing moral consideration and the disconnect between people's moral attitudes and their behavior. Research into the phenomenon is ongoing.