‘Moral Agent’ Vs. ‘Moral Patient’ (Or Why I’d Rather Hurt Mother Teresa Than You)

“Though we’re accustomed to classifying people as good or evil, … [more fundamentally,] we categorize the entities we encounter as either ‘moral agents’ – those who act, who are deserving of praise or blame – or ‘moral patients’ – those who are on the receiving end of good or bad deeds.” And we tend to assume that moral agents are “relatively impervious. It’s hard to picture Gandhi whimpering over a bruised knee.”