Perhaps the most important question that moral philosophy can ask is: who or what is entitled to moral rights? When we discuss different moral philosophies, such as utilitarianism or deontology, we do so under the assumption that human beings are at the center of the moral code. Should we assume so? Historically speaking, humans have only been present on this planet for 100,000 years. The planet itself has existed for about 4.6 billion years, so the environment and animal life existed long before intelligent human life emerged. Why then is it generally accepted that morality applies exclusively to human beings? To answer this question I intend to discuss some of the fundamental principles of morality, such as moral community. What does belonging to the moral community entail? Does not being a contributing member of the moral community mean that you are not entitled to moral consideration? How humans approach issues of animal rights and environmentalism depends on the answers to these questions. The moral community is composed of a set of people self-aware enough to make moral decisions and to contribute to and obey the moral mandates established by the community. According to philosopher Carl Cohen, humans are the only known moral creatures who "establish moral laws; for others and for themselves. Humans are self-legislative, morally autonomous" (897). It is important to distinguish that it is being self-legislative and morally autonomous and not the mere fact of being biologically human that distinguishes the members of the moral community. Theoretically, any species of creature that has the same measure of self-awareness and moral thought should be granted equal membership in the moral community and all the privileges of which it is a member... middle of paper... people may or may not be willing to compromise now, but sooner or later humanity will. Perhaps how the moral community treats external entities is important in what it says about the moral community. Is the ultimate goal of the moral community to shape society into people with empathy for other creatures, regardless of their intellect? Is the goal to shape humanity into people who adopt responsible long-term thinking and use their resources wisely? Mistreating animals for our own purposes and exploiting the environment to an irrecoverable level may not be morally wrong, but I can't imagine it's a good practice to cultivate in humans either. From a logical point of view, entities outside the moral community may not have rights, but for the good of the moral community it is perhaps better for them to be treated as if they were.