Sapients

Sapience in the history is the benchmark used to define an entity as a "being" or "person". During the course of this history the exact definition was amended numerous times based on longer term observations of various biological entities from different worlds.

To qualify as sapient the general population of the entities must demonstrate innate ability for and individuals must demonstrate
 * abstract reasoning
 * moral judgement
 * self aware identities

This is a higher benchmark than sentience which requires only the ability to act based on emotions and qualifies most higher lifeforms encountered.

Specific cases
Many of the primates of Terra/Sol especially chimpanzee were initially regarded as borderline sapient but by 2130 this settled. In a landmark study by the {institute} it was conclusively demonstrated that most of the qualifications for sapience were being learned as part of gaining the ability to communicate with humans.

This was in marked contrast to various cetacean species who met all criteria regardless of whether they learnt to communicate with humans from each other in childhood or by direct human instruction.

Definitional issues
Identifying "an individual" was expected to be a major stumbling block if a distributed intelligence (hive mind) was ever encountered. The discrete biological entities (eg an individual ant) would have trouble qualifying as sentient. While that single ant may not be sentient, the entire colony if regarded as a "single entity" may qualify as sentient or theoretically even sapient