Dhaka: Jahangirnagar University (JU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan emphasized that humans have moral responsibilities towards animals, plants, and even non-living components of nature. He shared these thoughts during a programme titled “The Coexistence Dialogue: People, Elephant and Shared Landscapes,” organized by the Deep Ecology and Snake Conservation Foundation at the university’s Zahir Raihan Auditorium.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the Vice-Chancellor discussed the anthropocentric ethical perspective, which places human interests at the core of moral responsibility. He noted that other ethical theories expand this scope by focusing on the ability to experience pain and pleasure. Prof Kamrul highlighted that the capacity to feel pain or pleasure is a key factor in moral evaluation, and this capacity creates value, which in turn establishes duty towards animals.
He also explored a philosophical perspective that bases morality on “interest,” extending ethical consideration to plants. Prof Kamrul pointed out that a tree, for instance, has an interest in survival, demonstrated when it dies from a lack of water, indicating its interests have been harmed. He mentioned that proponents of the biocentric view argue that plants possess value due to their interests, thus humans have moral obligations towards them.
Furthermore, Prof Kamrul expanded on the idea of moral responsibility to include non-living elements of nature. He cited oxygen as an example of a non-living natural element with life-support value, which can be considered as holding natural or objective value, thereby extending the scope of moral duties even further.