After defending the idea that ethics is a theoretical enquiry endowed with autonomous standards of justification and criticism, within which criteria coming from other domains have no direct relevance, I dwell on the structure of the moral community. The notions of moral agent and moral patient are clarified, and a distinction is drawn between possible levels in moral status. Within this framework, I consider a set of often quoted criteria for inclusion into the moral community. My conclusion, which is widely shared within contemporary moral philosophy, is that, thanks to its connection with the role-shift test, the criterion of consciousness remains the only plausible candidate criterion for the status of moral patient.
Keywords: consciousness, moral agent, moral community, moral patient, moral status, role-shift test