Final answer:
Jeremy Bentham, a utilitarian philosopher, believed that the capacity to experience pleasure and pain is what qualifies something as a moral patient, giving it moral status and considerations in utilitarian ethics.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Jeremy Bentham, what is sufficient to qualify something as a moral patient is its capacity to experience pleasure and pain.
Bentham, a prominent thinker in utilitarianism, posited that the moral value of an action depends on its ability to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
This principle implies that any being capable of experiencing happiness and suffering must be considered in our moral deliberations and has certain rights or moral considerations owed to them.
In utilitarian terms, sentience is the criterion for moral patienthood, which grants an entity moral status.