Brac University has conferred its inaugural honorary fellowship on Australian moral philosopher Professor Peter Singer, recognising his contributions to ethics, effective altruism, bioethics and animal rights.
The fellowship was presented on Thursday at the university’s Merul Badda campus in Dhaka by Board of Trustees Chairperson Tamara Hasan Abed and Vice-Chancellor Professor Syed Ferhat Anwar.
The university described the fellowship as its highest honour, established in memory of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of Brac and Brac University.
The citation, read out by Professor Anwar, highlighted Singer’s contributions to moral philosophy, international development and social impact. It cited his 1972 essay Famine, Affluence and Morality, his 1975 book Animal Liberation, his role as founder and board chair of The Life You Can Save, and his authorship of more than 50 books.
The citation said Singer’s work resonated with Sir Fazle Hasan Abed’s vision and reflected the university’s commitment to academic excellence and societal impact.
“Your work asks a simple question: when we have the means to help, what should we do? That question has particular meaning for Brac University,” Tamara Hasan Abed said.
She said the university wanted its students to consider how they would use the opportunities their education provided and who could benefit from their choices.
Welcoming Singer to Bangladesh for the first time, she said the university was honoured to receive him in the year of his 80th birthday.
Accepting the fellowship, Singer said it was particularly meaningful to receive the honour from a university founded on Sir Fazle Hasan Abed’s ideals. He described the university as a community of scholars committed to “searching for truth, searching for knowledge, allowing free inquiry and free expression”.
Effective altruism and poverty reduction
Before the ceremony, Singer took part in a fireside chat with Brac Executive Director Asif Saleh.
Saleh recalled that Singer was a young philosopher at Oxford in November 1971 when he followed reports of the crackdown in Bengal and the millions of refugees crossing into India.
Singer’s response was the essay Famine, Affluence and Morality, published in 1972. The work helped shape his decades-long engagement with the question of what people in wealthy countries owe those living in poverty, Saleh said.
During his first visit to Bangladesh, Singer described the country as “a vigorous country, which is bustling with activity” and called its progress “an inspiring success story”.
He also visited Brac’s ultra-poor graduation programme, which supports people living in extreme poverty.
Explaining effective altruism, Singer said the movement encourages people to make helping others a priority while ensuring that their efforts achieve meaningful results. He cited Brac’s ultra-poor graduation programme as an example of an intervention that was tested through pilot studies, evaluated and expanded after evidence supported its effectiveness. The programme has also been implemented in several other countries.
Promoting business for social good
Singer said capitalism could be reformed to encourage businesses to contribute more to society. He recently helped establish Profit for Good, an initiative that encourages companies to donate part of their profits to charitable causes.
“We are encouraging companies to commit to donating at least 10% of their profits to those good causes. And we’re encouraging consumers to look out for those companies,” he said.
The initiative was founded with the School of Moral Ambition, a Dutch organisation established by historian Rutger Bregman that also has an office in New York City. The organisation runs courses for entrepreneurs seeking to direct their ambitions towards broader social goals.
“It would be good if their ambitions were not only directed to their self-interest, but also in a more ethical direction,” Singer said.
Having retired from Princeton University two years ago, Singer said he wanted to devote less time to writing and take a more active role in addressing issues where his efforts could have the greatest impact.
Speaking about altruism on his podcast Lives Well Lived, he cited guests who had donated a kidney to a stranger. They had concluded that they could live well with one kidney and that the risks were small, making it possible to help someone they did not know, he said.
AI poses opportunities and employment risks
Asked about artificial intelligence and its implications for countries such as Bangladesh, Singer described both potential benefits and significant risks.
AI could give people worldwide access to high-level healthcare advice through an internet connection, he said. However, it could also cause substantial disruption in employment.
Singer said efforts were needed to prevent wealth from shifting from workers to technology companies in affluent countries. One possible measure, he suggested, would be to require companies whose technologies lead to job losses to contribute to a universal basic income.
He also stressed that employment provides people with activity and purpose, making it important for societies to continue valuing work that machines cannot perform.
Referring to his visit to Aarong, Singer noted that handprinting and hand embroidery continue to provide employment.
“There is something distinctive and special about handprinting, about hand embroidery, of clothing,” he said, adding that machines could be used for tasks they performed well without diminishing the value of human work.
Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Susan Ryle attended the ceremony as a guest.
