I propose a discussion on my PDF-PowerPoint "Animals: persons or resources?". I used this PowerPoint for the lecture held on 3rd April 2025 at the International Conference “‘Thinking Other-Wise’: Posthumanism and Human-Animal Studies”, Bankura University, 3rd - 4th April 2025. In my analysis, I deal with some aspects of the debate on the moral status of animals. In particular, the question of the criterion to be used in order to determine which entities have moral status is discussed. Different models are described for the determination of the moral standing of the entities: the investigation shows that the adoption of the possession of reason for an entity having moral status has been used, throughout the history of philosophy, to exclude all animals from the moral universe. The turning point in the history of philosophy is represented by Jeremy Bentham, who considers as a criterion the capacity of suffering. Different positions of the contemporary thinkers dealing with animal ethics are considered: Peter Singer, Tom Regan and Gary Francione are examined as examples of thinkers speaking for the inclusion of animals into the moral realm; arguments of Peter Carruthers for the exclusion of animals from the moral consideration are investigated. In order to let the investigation open for discussion, I intentionally take no position during the analysis; only at the conclusion of the study I plead for the inclusion of animals in the moral universe. Keywords Animal ethics, Jeremy Bentham, biological entity, moral status, Peter Singer, moral standing, Tom Regan, animals, Peter Carruthers, speciesism, Gary Francione, theological speciesism, Steve Wise, Scala Naturae, Aristotle, sentientism, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, machines, Descartes, finalism, Kant