Photo: BSS

JAHANGIRNAGAR UNIVERSITY, Aug 18, 2026 (BSS) - Jahangirnagar University (JU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan today said humans have moral responsibilities not only towards fellow human beings but also towards animals, plants and even the non-living elements of nature.

"Humans have duties towards animals, plants and non-living nature," he said while addressing a programme titled "The Coexistence Dialogue: People, Elephant & Shared Landscapes", organised by the Deep Ecology and Snake Conservation Foundation at the Zahir Raihan Auditorium of the university.

The VC said the anthropocentric ethical perspective places human interests at the centre of moral responsibility. However, he said, other ethical theories expand the scope of moral consideration based on the ability to experience pain and pleasure.

"Rather than intelligence, the capacity to feel pain or pleasure is the central consideration in moral evaluation," he said.

"If that capacity is important, then it has value and value derives duty. So, we have duties towards animals as well," he added.

Prof Kamrul said another philosophical perspective considers "interest" as the basis of morality and extends ethical consideration to plants.

"A tree also has an interest in survival. If you do not provide water to a tree, it dies. Through its death, it demonstrates that its interest has been harmed," he said.

He said proponents of the biocentric view believe that plants possess value because they have interests, and therefore humans have moral duties towards them.

The VC said the scope of moral responsibility could be extended further to include non-living components of nature.

"Even towards the non-living parts of nature, we have duties," he said, citing oxygen as an example of a natural element essential for sustaining life.

"Imagine you are talking about oxygen. There is no alternative to it. Its life-support value can be considered a natural or objective value," he added.