Sentientism

Eva is the operations lead for the startup non-profit Pax Fauna. Pax Fauna exists to design a more effective social movement for animal freedom in the U.S. Eva has been organizing in the animal freedom movement since 2015 when she started working with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) in Chicago, where she focused on building community, writing protest music, and compiling the movements’ songs into an online songbook used by advocates around the world. She started working full time as DxE’s legal coordinator in 2018, managing the organization’s many legal cases, organizing trainings, and orchestrating large artistic demonstrations. Building on a background in Kingian nonviolence, Eva is a dedicated student of #nonviolentcommunication and is committed to bringing NVC’s repertoire of creative problem-solving tools to the work of building a better culture in the animal movement. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome 01:39 Eva's Intro 02:48 What's Real? - "Growing up I definitely loved the supernatural... ghosts... god... mystical things" - Raised #episcopalian, baptised, church "I remember really enjoying that" - Considering confirmation but "starting to feel a little bit sceptical" - 5th grade: Debating people online about religion - "A sudden realisation... I don't actually believe all of this" - Looking for purpose - Identifying as an #atheist & focusing on the harms of religion (unaccepting, destructive, family rejections) - "I still don't believe in anything that can't be falsified" - "I'm really connected to the needs that can be met by religion..." working in an end of life hospice - "My own spirituality... characterised by #nonviolence" a Kingian perspective, nonviolent communication - Meeting the needs (community, morality)... without the supernatural - Valuing acceptance & care for others led to hostility vs. some religious ethics - #yoga & #meditation then finding "a more secular form of meditation" - Using supernaturalism as a metaphor - Naturalistic "spirituality"... "a felt sense of purpose" 13:20 What Matters? - Non-violence: Getting away from black & white "right and wrong" thinking to "thinking about needs" - Finding creative alternatives to meeting needs without violence - Needs & strategies to meet them - More fundamental needs: safety, sustenance, freedom from suffering - #maslow 's hierarchy, Scott Barry Kaufman's sailboat @ThePsychologyPodcast   - Protective use of force. Justifiable force. "Nonviolence is definitely not #pacifism " - Mourning unmet needs ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Between 1999 and 2014, Bel was Style Editor for Metro. The fall of Rana Plaza in 2013 forced a re-assessment; today, she is a writer, speaker and activist with a focus on animal rights, the climate emergency and the toxic fashion system. Bel has taken part in and moderated numerous panels for brands and organisations and has been interviewed about her work in activism, alternative systems in fashion and culture change. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome 01:48 Bel's Intro - Journalism, fashion editor, social & animal justice activism - "The world of fashion sucks you in" - Co-founding The Islington Climate Centre & running The Empathy Project 04:19 What's Real? - (I mis-spoke & asked "what matters?" - sorry!) - Growing up in #hongkong ... rich, vibrant, urban - "Really loving animals" first companion animal at 3 "they were these beautiful things" - Stray animals & wet markets "but no one talked about it" - Food "a very big deal in that culture"... valuing the exotic e.g. suckling pig / turtle soup - "At least they were honest... there was no pretense at compassion" - "I tucked in because everyone else tucked in" - "I held this love of animals whilst eating them for a very long time" - Growing up "broadly agnostic" with a Jewish father & a mother who moved through various religions - Saying the Lord's Prayer every morning at school - "I just couldn't correlate why there were so many sad things happening & god didn't seem to be very active in sorting it out" - Coming to #spirituality through "the extent of the suffering... abuse... cruelty"... "I could not rationalise it" - "I'm going to drive my love to them through thought & visualisation & #meditation " - "My god is the natural world" - "Animals are the sentient representations of nature" - "I do like to get my hands in the soil" 19:34 What Matters? - "Religions are man made constructions... constructed in times long gone... by powerful men... You cannot not question them." - Suffering as central to understanding good & bad 23:46 Who Matters? - "Even as we talk most people will think we're talking just about humans" - Moral philosophy's focus on humans - The rationalisations that support animal exploitation "I had an innocent idea of what authority does" - "I would volunteer in animal shelters then go home and have a meat dinner" - A journalist trip where they helped a sheep get free from barbed wire then "had lamb for dinner" - "My awakening... was my encounter with the #Yulin dog meat festival... I started to question the nature of humanity" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

This episode is a bonus cross post of my conversation about Sentientism with Nathan and Todd on their Beyond Atheism podcast. Beyond Atheism moves beyond questions of gods' existence to ask "what's next in a godless world?" If that question interests you make sure you go and subscribe. Many thanks to Todd and Nathan for inviting me. I think they're on their way to Sentientism… In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what (and who) matters?” Sentientism answers those questions with a commitment to "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." Find out more at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Paige is Communications Director for the streaming platform UnchainedTV. After initially going vegan “for the environment” Jane became an ethical vegan after attending her first vigil with LA Animal Save. Paige later became a Contributor for JaneUnchained News where she reported on vigils, PETA protests, VegFests, book launches, Cubes of Truth & vegan conferences. Paige then became Booker for LunchBreakLIVE, a daily cooking show & Senior Booker for JaneUnChained News. Now, as UnchainedTV Comms Director & co-producer/co-host of the Plant Based In the ‘Burbs show, Paige brings inspiration, humor & humbleness to the kitchen, showing simple swap outs & easy recipes to inspire people to bring more plants on their plates. She also works with Gwenna Hunter who launched the first vegan food bank in Southern California. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome 02:00 Paige's Intro 05:09 What's Real? - Paradigm shifts & language - Cultural differences re: dog & horse meat & values - Living on a cattle ranch w/grandparents "hard work & love" - California to Tennessee & back - "I'm more #spiritual than religious" - Agreed meanings of "humane" "so that humans can feel comfortable eating these animals" - "A lot of systems are breaking down" some in a good way, some not so good - #COP27 #greenwashing  - The Farm Bill, animal agriculture subsidies, lobbying - How bad ethics & bad epistemology feed each other - A sunday school teacher aunt - Corporal punishment "for me there was a Bible & a ruler" - "Pretty much buying into the American way... & #christianity " - A spiritual workshop - #thesecret & Michael Beckwith & the Agape International Spiritual Centre "A Baptist/Buddhist experience... this really fits my heart... commonality & peace" - #transcendence & interconnectedness in both naturalistic & spiritual ways of thinking - JW: Risks in spiritual movements that focus on "#manifesting your own future... so if bad things happen to you it's your fault" & high control & dangerous leaders & coercion - "If we take personal responsibility we can socially change... stop blaming others" - "Everything that has ever happened to me I take full responsibility for... even child abuse." - "A brother who took his life at 19"... "losing both parents to brain injury" - "I'd rather be empowered" - Risks of victim-blaming, even when the victim is ourselves - "There are situations where there are victims, perpetrators... (JW) & systemic influences we have very little control over" - Children working in US slaughterhouses - "Work towards justice for others" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Lori is Executive Director of The Kimmela Center and Founder & President of The Whale Sanctuary Project. She is a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior and intelligence, formerly on the faculty of Emory University where she was also a faculty member at the Emory Center for Ethics. She is internationally known for her work on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales and marine mammal welfare in captivity, as well as cognition in farmed animals through The Someone Project. In 2001 Lori co-authored a ground-breaking study with Diana Reiss offering the first conclusive evidence for mirror self-recognition in bottlenose dolphins, after which she decided against conducting further research with animals held captive in zoos and aquariums. Lori has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles on marine mammal biology and cognition, comparative brain anatomy, self-awareness in nonhuman animals, human-nonhuman animal relationships, and the evolution of intelligence. Lori has appeared in several films and television programs, including Blackfish; Unlocking the Cage; Long Gone Wild and the upcoming documentary about Corky, the orca held captive by SeaWorld since 1969. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome - Guest links e.g. Kathy Hessler https://youtu.be/R5eZebUAsQg 01:52 Lori's Intro - A central question: "What is it like to be another animal?" - "I ran into ethical issues that shaped how I conducted my career" - Science then science-based advocacy "it's all based on facts" 04:12 What's Real? - Raised Roman #Catholic as an Italian American in Brooklyn NY "Church on Sunday" - "I started to question the whole proposition... that there's some sort of a god" - Heaven, hell, sin "It's not light hearted... it's dark" - Becoming a recovering Catholic - "If there is a god, it's on vacation" & the #problemofevil  - Becoming #atheist "that's what I am today... I don't see any reason to propose that there's anything supernatural out there" - #agnostic "what does that even mean?... I'm atheist in the same way that I don't think that there are purple dinosaurs walking around in my room & talking to me... I'm not agnostic about that." - "I didn't ever draw my ethics from religion" - Catholic "#ethics but from a very weird point of view" - The psychological needs motivating religious belief - Teenage dabbling in #pseudoscience 20:45 What and Who Matters? A Better Future! ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Kathy is Assistant Dean, Animal Legal Education at George Washington University Law School and Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative. Kathy has been a clinical law professor for 30 years and has been teaching animal law for 22 years. She is the first law professor hired to teach animal law full-time. Kathy helped develop the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School (L&C). For fourteen years she taught there and directed the Animal Law Clinic. She also created and directed the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative and is the co-founder of World Aquatic Animal Day along with Amy P. Wilson. Kathy co-authored “Animal Law in a Nutshell”, “Animal Law – New Perspectives on  Teaching Traditional Law” and the amicus briefs submitted in the U.S. v. Stevens and Justice v. Gwendolyn Vercher cases. She has written numerous law review and other articles and teaches and lectures widely across the U.S. and internationally. Kathy was a board member with the Animal Legal Defense Fund; helped found the Animal Law Committee of the Cuyahoga County Bar; and was the chair and a founder of the Animal Law Section and the Balance in Legal Education Section of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS). She was also a co-chair of the Clinical Legal Education Section of the AALS, is on the board of the Center for Teaching Peace and is a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome - Randall Abate  01:30 Kathy's Intro - #animallaw professor & practitioner - #nonviolence activism - "This is one area of law where students can do something today... to change things" - "& they're implicated... what we eat, what we wear" - "It's hard to say 'all day I'm talking about protecting animals' & go home & eat them" 06:39 What's Real? - Raised #Catholic & #republican "Rules bounded, status quo, respected authority... dogmatically religious" - "You weren't supposed to question"... just listen to parents & nuns - Noticing inconsistencies  (in one place girls can be altar servers, in another they can't) - Mid to late #1960's "A lot of questioning" - #Vatican II - Liking justice aspects, not liking treatment of women/indigenous people - Questioning in college - "If people who told me that god existed... were wrong about women... they could be wrong about god" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Carol is an author, artist, animal activist and scholar whose work focuses on the reality of animals’ lives as important contributors to the biodiversity of this planet. She is Professor Emerita of Design and Dynamic Media and Critical and Cultural Studies at the Emily Carr University of Design, Vancouver, BC. CANADA. Her most recent book is The Creative Lives of Animals. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome - Other sentientism guests: Marc Bekoff, Lori Marino (forthcoming!), Jessica Pearce 02:11 Carol's Intro - Starting out as an actress but "I didn't like saying other people's words" - Printmaking, art, animal rights activism, animation, writing "I felt like I had a lot to say" - #TomRegan & Nancy & "The Dante Series" - Criticising biotechnology & bioart (people using animals as objects in their art) "lots of friends in the arts who no longer are really my friends" - Helping develop #Criticalanimalstudies  - #ecoart  - "It's very new for people to take animals seriously" - Writing Creative Lives: "Animals are individual creative beings" - Anthropocene & biodiversity - "I was writing so much about animals as victims... [they] are much more than that" 10:30 What's Real? - Italian Catholic upbringing in #pittsburgh  - Rational father & "strongly emotional" women - "Eating the body of Christ" - "I'm not a practising Catholic" - Informed by Buddhism "but not a practising Buddhist either" - "The naturalistic way of looking at things - it's really important" - "Creativity itself is an unknown quantity" - "A universal, multi-species creativity?" - Differing perspectives on the same reality - #EdYong 's "An Immense World" - Reading Annie Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" after a bad car accident - #Physics & "On creativity" by #DavidBohm & "spooky action at a distance." "We are all connected... in a way we're not aware of" - "Once you start reading... you start to be critical of things... my parents... never loooked into what I was reading :)" - Becoming sceptical of #catholicism quite early. 8th grade "I gotta get out of here" - Dante's Inferno as a metaphor for animal experimentation - Humility is critical - #Wicca & #witchcraft & #spirituality  - "Animals are struggling just like we are" - The dangers of reifying animals or "nature" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Dan is the host of Truth Wanted, a call-in talk show that's part of the Atheist Community of Austin.Truth Wanted focuses on how and why people believe what they believe - and how we can talk about beliefs in more effective ways - whether it’s karma or Christ, Bigfoot or crystals. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: We discuss: 00:00 Welcome Dan "coming out" as #vegan during Jamie's co-hosting of Truth Wanted 03:08 Dan's Intro Listen to Truth Wanted! Is space real? Are there bug creatures on Mars? "Americans in particular - not super great at the whole #epistemology stuff" 05:07 What's Real? Growing up #Methodist , then switching to a #baptistchurch Community more than theology "your parents went to church so you went to church" "I did believe" Doing evangelical ministry Being baptised twice! Talking to  @Anthony Magnabosco  of  @Street Epistemology  "It was a stepping stone on a journey... I was already deconstructing" "This faith thing doesn't really make sense" Being an "igtheist" (basically an atheist) and a #Sentientist  @Being Reasonable's Mark Solomon https://youtu.be/OybxPFN8Ifc The Bible "doesn't really stack up." Progressive Xtian & Xtian mystic phases Reading  @Sam Harris "I was definitely homophobic... transphobic growing up". "My Christian faith told me it wasn't right, it wasn't natural" "When you have a naturalist worldview it's harder to be homophobic" Changing ethics & politics: abortion, immigration "Christianity was all I knew... I didn't understand how to be a good person outside of Christianity" Struggles of leaving Xtianity. Lacking community (no  @Secular Student Alliance  in Waco) "that was tough" "There would be more athiests if it was more normal" Atheists within religious communities Selective dogmatism: #Qanon , #antivaxx , #goop products, #homeopathy "#cognitivedissonance is a bitch" "When you don't have someone who is actively challenging what you think you can just think what you want" #miracles "Churches aren't places for critical thinking" #epistemology #fideism #dogma Hebrews 11: "faith is the evidence of things not seen" enables any arbitrary belief ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Karen was an animal rights advocate and president of United Poultry Concerns. UPC is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 to address the treatment of domestic fowl in farming – including chickens, turkeys, and ducks. Karen also ran an animal sanctuary. She was the author of several books on veganism and animal rights, including Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry (1997) and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities (2005). In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome 01:23 Karen's Intro -  @United Poultry Concerns   - Meeting Viva the chicken - "A lifelong affinity for birds" - Seeing a friend's father killing a hen 05:05 What's Real? - Growing up in Pennsylvania - Catching & killing wildlife "my parents never objected" - Everybody went to some kind of church "that's what we did then... respectable people go to church" - Sunday school "for parents to have some time to themselves" - Parents not very religious - "God didn't make rats, the devil made rats" to rationalise killing - "I was never a believer"... "If I joined the church... I could wear stockings instead of socks" 13:08 What Matters? - "I was always directly affected by others whether they were human or other than human" - Childhood distress: a duck being run over, baby birds falling from nests - #empathy & #compassion as a moral core  21:02 Who Matters? - Father & brothers hunting pheasants, squirrels & rabbits - Realising what father was doing in the cellar - Arguing at the dinner table "I wasn't thinking about who was on my plate" - Father: "Everything hunts the rabbit" - "I relate directly to other creatures - I don't need any belief system at all" - Reading "The First Step" by #leotolstoy . Giving up animal products as the first step of #nonviolence ... "that was really it - I didn't want to eat animal flesh any more... that was in 1974" - #Animaltesting . #EdwardTaub 's primate research #SilverSpringmonkeys - Nurses having to do animal experiments to qualify - Do you need to have a psychopathic detachment to be a vet/doctor? - Being a juvenile probation officer - Being traumatised by SPCA literature on #harpseal slaughter "This was my eye opening experience of institutionalised animal abuse" - Witnessing seal culling in Canada in 1974 - National Geographic asking photographers to damage Beaver habitats to get a good story - Brian Davies' book "Savage Luxury" - Lisa Kemmerer - Cultural/traditional/religious justifications for causing harm... ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!

Anthony or A.C. is a philosopher and author. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities. Anthony is the author of over 30 books including The Future of Moral Values, What Is Good?, The Meaning of Things, The Good Book & The God Argument. He was a fellow of the World Economic Forum, & is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature & the Royal Society of Arts. Anthony is a vice-president of Humanists UK & an honorary associate of the National Secular Society. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome 01:50 Anthony's Intro - "I agree wholeheartedly with... Sentientism" - #humanism  - #Supernaturalism, #naturalism , value & #morality  03:43 What's Real? - A non-religious family - Encountering religions at 13 yrs "preference for one kind of candy vs. another" - Evangelical chaplain at boarding school "he galvanised me" & provided a reading list. "I've read everything & I simply cannot understand how you can believe this stuff" - How Christianity remixes stories from other mythologies. "That demolished the pretentions of Christianity" - "Religions keep their hold mainly by brainwashing the young" - Malign effects of religion e.g. blocking science; "a kind of mental prison" - Joining the #NewAtheist debate with #richarddawkins , #christopherhitchens  - Do gods exist?, should we have a #secular society?, should we have a #humanist morality? - Why atheists & humanists still hold other dogmatic beliefs - "All claims should be defeasible" - "Instead of talking about knowledge, let us talk about rational belief". Belief ratioed to the weight of evidence - There may be fairies in your garden but "it is profoundly irrational to believe it" - The ethics of rationality - "You often hear religious people saying you can't prove there is no god... I'm going to do it now." "in the empirical sense proof means test... like proving steel" - #CarlSagan 's Dragon in the Garage "the claim turns up empty" - Standards of "discovery" in physics 20:57 What Matters? - Spanning the #Is-Ought chasm "I emphatically disagree with Hume" - "Very few people on the planet like to be cold, hungry, alone, in pain, oppressed... tortured... those few people who do like those things are weird" - Mirror neurons, theory of mind & #empathy  - "There is a deeply naturalistic basis to the possibilities of moral behaviour... it takes culture to mess them up" - Tightly linking the good/bad of feeling with the good/bad of ethics ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form. Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!