Final answer:
Peter Singer's criterion for moral standing is the capacity to suffer or experience enjoyment or happiness, with a focus on reducing suffering and promoting well-being for all sentient beings.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Peter Singer, the criterion for moral standing is the capacity to suffer or experience enjoyment or happiness. Singer is a prominent advocate of utilitarian ethics, emphasizing that the ability to experience suffering or pleasure is what grants an entity moral status. This idea challenges traditional views that might prioritize characteristics like rationality or being a member of the homo sapien species.
Sentience is central to Singer's philosophy, which posits that any being capable of suffering should be considered when making moral judgments. This framework leads to a moral imperative to reduce suffering and promote well-being for all sentient beings, not just humans.
Singer's approach can be contrasted with other ethical frameworks such as deontological ethics, which focus on duties or rules, and virtue ethics, which argue that right action flows from right character. Unlike these theories, Singer's utilitarian perspective assesses actions based on their consequences, specifically in terms of the suffering and happiness they produce.