Sentientism

Michael Huemer (@FakeNousBlog) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of more than seventy academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, & political philosophy, as well as eight amazing books that YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY BUY including Skepticism & the Veil of Perception, Ethical Intuitionism, The Problem of Political Authority, Approaching Infinity, Paradox Lost, & Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism. He blogs at fakenous.net. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 00:00 Welcome 01:31 Mike's Intro 02:20 What's Real? - Reading bible stories at 5 yrs old & declaring "This is stupid!... I don't believe in god" - "all the major religions are false... incredibly implausible" - Bible & other religious texts: "just so obviously the sort of things a primitive human would write"... obsessed w/sex, different human tribes - "If I'd created a universe containing 100 bn galaxies... I don't think I'd be obsessed with this particular tribe of humans" - "God in traditional religions doesn't even seem like a decent person, let alone the greatest... If he was a human we'd have to lock him in jail"  - Mike's "Scary Bible Quotes" page - Jesus contradicting the Old Testament - Atheism to agnosticism. "There could still be a creator". Fine tuning - Intelligent design, multiverse, anthropic responses - Methodological naturalism & metaphysical naturalism - "I don't even really know what supernatural means" - "There can be natural things that are beyond our understanding" - "I think I'm conscious & I don't think my consciousness is physical"... many naturalists say that's not naturalism - Direct realism: "You should assume that things are they way they seem unless you have specific reasons for thinking otherwise". Most people who object don't know what it is. "The main problem is people refuse to listen." 23:52 What Matters? - "It was always bizarre that people thought you needed religion in order to have ethics" - Divine Command Theory: "The boss is going to mess you up". That's not ethics - What does "where does ethics come from?" even mean? Where did numbers come from? - "We thought about it - then it was obvious" - "If you've felt pain you're going to notice that it's bad" - The is/ought gap "is supposed to be between such & such is painful & such & such is bad" - "If you have experienced suffering you're aware of its badness" - "In a way I'm following what I thought when I was a small child" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. 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! Thanks Graham.

Dr. Brian Earp (@briandavidearp) is Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics & Health Policy & a Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. His work is cross-disciplinary, following training in philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, history & sociology of science and medicine, & ethics. He has written extensively on resisting traditional & religious justifications for causing harm – particularly to children through genital mutilation / circumcision. He wrote the book "Love Drugs" w/Julian Savulescu. Brian is also a professional singer & actor. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 02:00 Brian's Intro - Academically trying to understand the world & lay out how it should be. 03:04 What's Real? - Growing up in Seattle in a Free Methodist Evangelical Christian society - Mum: Christianity & god. Dad: A more naturalist perspective - "Evolution was something that might tempt us away from the path of righteousness" - Unthinkingly accepting Christianity at first - Asking questions of the pastor at 12/13 yrs. Is it fair to send people to hell who have never even heard of Jesus? - The problem of evil... while being emotionally sensitive to the pain of others - Taking "a very serious concern with morality" from mum's Christian worldview even as a kid - Divine command theory: things are right/wrong because god says so - Agnostic re: metaphysics: "What do you mean by god?" - The burden of proof is on the claimant... "Wow - how are you confident about that?" - Bible college vs. secular Yale - Studying philosophy at college - The fundamental fact claims fell apart - Ethical concerns: religious homophobia etc. The tension between strict religious rules & personal compassionate intuitions "something has to go here!" - "Unless I have an independent reason to believe one view over another..." 15:37 What Matters? - Supernatural worldview risks to universal compassion - Can compassion go too far? Undermining justice/fairness? - Agnostic about the grounding of ethics / meta-ethics - Instead a Quinian web of beliefs & intuitions I'm pretty darn sure about: "Needless suffering of an innocent person"... "Treating people differently without reason"... "concern for the disadvantaged / those without power or representation" then reasoning about cases - "We should believe what we have best reason to believe" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. 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! Thanks Graham.

Jamila (thesoulfulveganista.com & @Jamila_Anahata) is an activist, blogger & holistic lifestyle coach. She is aso Marketing Director of the Afro-Vegan Society. Sign up for their NAVCON2021 summit on Nov 13th - open to all!. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 01:12 Jamila’s Intro - Soulful Veganista & the AfroVegan Society - Community, creativity, connection to resist oppression and help others - "All the isms & justices". Veganism, racial justice / food justice / climate justice... - AVS: Veganism through a black lens 02:45 What’s Real? - Growing up in Maryland in the Southern US - Raised Southern Baptist Christian. Bible study, daily church, Sunday service - "I used to down religion... that industry" - The church as a powerful community for black southern people... "throwing our pain at the altar" - Experiencing deep racism... beyond bias - A hunger for something beyond the suffering of "this realm" - "I was always a gothy kid... a punk kid" - "3 seconds after I went vegan I decided I wasn't going to be Christian any more" - "If I can open my mind about veganism... I can do anything... it was so liberating" - Leaving religion because of evidence, ethics or rebellion - "My dad is a natural activist... he reminds me of Malcolm X" - Learing the painful history of Christianity - Not wanting to support the religion or animal product industries - Empathy as a moral compass. I didn't need religion for that - Keeping the compassion & community - Looking within for ethics - Spirituality. Connection & oneness - "There's more to life than my own suffering or flourishing" - Languages, class, religions, castes, hierarchies, status & how they separate us - "I swiped away all the titles" - Eckhart Tolle - "I am not what they think I am... I am divinely guided" - "If we wiped away all the oppressive things from Christianity that's what we'd be left with" - "I feel like I receive intuitive messages from my spiritual team" - Scepticism & believing in science... but that can't be all there is - Other planes or dimensions - "I was that faith based person where science was the enemy" - "This pandemic helped me... I learned that medicine is OK..." - Believing in 'what is' doesn't make me a less of a spiritual person - Naturalism on this plane, spiritualism for the others? ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. 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! Thanks Graham.

Dr. Sailesh Rao (climatehealers.org) is Founder & Exec Dir of Climate Healers, a non-profit working to heal the climate. After a glittering career in tech he switched to focus on solving our environmental crises. Dr. Rao is the author of two books, Carbon Dharma & Carbon Yoga, & is an Exec Producer of several documentaries including, The Human Experiment (2013), Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014), What The Health (2017), A Prayer for Compassion (2019) & They’re Trying to Kill Us (2021). In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 01:14 Dr. Rao's Intro - from India to the US, from tech to saving the world! - Growing up in a Hindu family in Chennai, India - "God is in charge & you are just an instrument" vs. the materialism of engineering training - Being inspired by the moon landing - Landing his dream job at Bell Labs - Starting a consulting firm creating the high-speed internet - "I had achieved, but I wasn't happy" - Frustrations with commercialisation & cut-throat competition - Seeing Al Gore talk about climate change... "If half of what he's saying is true I'm wasting my time" - Jumping to work on climate change "the biggest systems change around" - Being trained by Al Gore to take the message out - Asking Al Gore "If we take all the land we're currently using for raising animals & turn it back to forest can we not reverse climate change?" but he didn't want to talk about it - Starting Climate Healers 07:23 What's Real? - Becoming disillusioned with religion "This is poor work if God's in charge" - "We're the only species that's a mistake on this planet" - Visiting a sanctuary forest "I felt this sense of perfection"... "We did nothing... we gave it back to the animals... make sure no human being comes inside" - "My granddaughter was born... I felt as if I was holding humanity in my arms"... "I belong exactly as I am... you are a fool!" - Writing "Carbon Dharma" & "Carbon Yoga" - "Any 5 year old can tell you... be kind to all life" - Transforming from caterpillar to butterfly - "We are the climate regulating species" - Fire, weapons, partnerships with animals... then fossil fuels - Be a caretaker species, not a predator species - "If you insist on being a narcissistic predator species you're going to die" - "My granddaughter brought me back to faith" - "We're here to serve the animals not to eat them" - "The evidence... is that the Bhavadgita is actually correct" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. 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! Thanks Graham.

Pablo (@PabloPCastello & on LinkedIn) is a Research Assistant at the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law & a Junior Fellow of the Animals & Biodiversity programme of the Global Research Network (GRN) think tank. He is a PhD candidate at Royal Holloway (UoL). His research in Philosophy focuses on understanding the importance of human language in producing human dominion over animals. He also investigates the role animal language can play in relation to the participation of animals in political decision-making processes & the construction of zoodemocratic systems. His interests include ecofeminism, postcolonialism, critical race theory, critical disability studies, animal law, conservation, continental philosophy & critical animal studies. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 1:30 Pablo's Intro - interdisciplinary, intersectional research re: human & non-human animals, their languages & potential zoodemocracy. 3:51 What's Real? - Born into an atheist family - Wittgenstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" & the mystical sense of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky - "Becoming sensitive to a dimension of reality that I thought had been hidden to me" via Wittgenstein's early work - Are poetry, music, arts & feeling beyond science even while they are aspects of reality (not the mystical)? - Being grounded in our embodied existence (ecofeminism) - "Ethical value flows from reality"... "Sentience matters because it is real... there are beings that actually suffer" - Interests, preferences & relationships are grounded in who those beings are - Derrida's "The Animal That Therefore I Am." What is it like for a cat to see me naked?! - Alterity. Appreciating the "other" in their own terms. Levinas - Science & naturalism & personal experience - Feminist thought & context - Language, categories, relations, community & power - "Western" binaries. Those w/without reason. Barbarians & the civilised. - Are relations & communities & cultures reducible to patterns of info proc in the minds of sentients? - Is the bond between cow & calf intrinsically valuable, or are the relationships reducible to the individual cow & calf? - Science & scientism - Claire Jean Kim's "Dangerous Crossings". Understanding different actors' positionality - including our own. Ethic of mutual avowal ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. 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! Thanks Graham.

Healthy Planet is hosted by Bob DiBenedetto. His WUSB radio show aims to help people learn about the powerful effect our everyday choices can have in creating a healthy and compassionate world. 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.

Cat (@CatBeschVN) founded and leads Vietnam Animal Aid & Rescue. She is also a writer & activist addressing many non-human animal issues. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 1:10 Cat's Intro - Founding Vietnam Animal Aid & Rescue - Growing up in Virginia, USA - Studying International Relations in Washington DC - A political/military family 3:10 What's Real? - Growing up as a liberal Lutheran with very religious parents - The church as social fabric - Figuring out that "I just don't really believe in any of that crap" - High school & Baptist society in Alabama - The church seeing all sex as shameful... "holding virginity in such high esteem" - Feminism & Islam. "Headscarves & Hymens" by Mona Eltahawy.  - "The way the institutions look at sex & sexuality just makes you want to put your fist through a wall" - "A whole bunch of girls that think they're going to hell" - That was the turning point. Everything started to crumble - Not picking at the church too hard as it was the social fabric. "Life is hard enough at 16." I left it silently on my own - The hypocrisy of religious compassion & judgementalism - Atheists & agnostics are not immoral people - "I attended church... I took communion... my sins are flushed... now I can go back to being a dickhead" - Religious compassion is often conditional & constrained - The immorality of even "moderate" religious worldviews (e.g. hell, sexism, homophobia) - "Women are not emotionally stable enough to be leaders in the Catholic church"! - "I found it oppressive." Leaving the church was a moment of liberation - Travelling & living in many religious cultures - Starting the "Let's not be an asshole" religion - Being wrong. "I used to hate vegans", now I'm "on the side of all sentient beings" - Everybody has a chance to change - "I just don't know" as a strong naturalistic stance 25:09 What (& Who) Matters? - An early empathy for animals "they were my best friends", but living in an environment where killing sentient beings was normal - I never met a vegan in the horse riding world - "I love what you do for me" isn't love - Being angry at our previous selves for not seeing - Thinking all vegans must be "dirty hippies" - Meeting first vegans hosting couch-surfers in Mongolia - Being challenged "You love animals but who are you eating?" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. 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. Thanks for the post-prod Graham.

This episode is a bonus cross-post from Rod Graham's Being series on YouTube where I talked to Rod about Sentientism. You can watch the video of our conversation on his channel here. Check out and subscribe to Rod's channel and give him a follow on Twitter. I hope you enjoy our conversation! As ever, this is my personal perspective so many other Sentientists will disagree - while still agreeing on "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." Sentientism: sentientism.info Sentientism Facebook (all welcome) 📺https://www.youtube.com/c/Sentientism

Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell & petertatchell.net) has been an activist for human rights, democracy, LGBT+ freedom and global justice since 1967. Watch the Netflix documentary about his life, "Hating Peter Tatchell". He directs the Peter Tatchell foundation (petertatchellfoundation.org). In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on Youtube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 1:10 Peter's Intro - a lifetime of activism - Teenage campaigning: indigenous rights, death penalty, Vietnam war - A wide spectrum of campaigns: LGBT+ rights, social justice, free speech, Balochistan, West Papua 3:07 What's Real? - Growing up in Melbourne in 1950-60s under a right-wing government - Evangelical Protestant Christian Bible literalist parents - "You take what your parents say, usually, to be what is right" - Studying science at school & starting to question - Being horrified at 11 yrs hearing about the racist bombing of a black church in Alabama - Black civil rights & Martin Luther King & Liberation theology - "If god is omnipotent, why does evil happen?" - Teaching Sunday School at 16 - Being told evolution was a "satanic theory" by abusive step-father - Dropping the hateful, vengeful old testament god & holding on to more compassionate new testament values - Homosexuality was still a criminal offence in 1969 - "I was genuinely afraid that if I came out, they [my parents] would turn me in to the police" - "For both of them, homosexuality was a terrible, mortal sin - almost on a par with murder & rape" - How Peter's mother has come to support LGBT+ rights - Becoming an atheist & humanist at ~20 19:10 What & Who Matters? - Still holding to some of the compassionate values of Christianity, but those values aren't exclusive to religion - Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Global, not "western" - Human rights are evolving & expanding. Yet to extend to LGBT+ / disability - AI/robot rights? Peter's 1970's degree dissertation on cyborg sentience & rights - Pre-human proto-morality - Looking after the family cow at 9 yrs old. Seeing the cruelty of circuses/zoos at 10. - "I knew they had feelings... but I never thought they had rights" - Being revolted by seeing chickens being killed "but I was still eating the meat" - Considering non-human animal rights in the 1970-80s & reducing animal product consumption - "Other animals are sentient beings - they have feelings" ...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube. Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join Peter on 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. Thanks for the post-prod Graham.

Massimo (figsinwinter.blog & @mpigliucci) is Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. He co-hosted the Rationally Speaking Podcast & was the editor in chief for the magazine Scientia Salon. He is an outspoken critic of pseudoscience & creationism & an advocate for secularism, science education & Stoicism.  In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on Youtube. We discuss: 0:00 Welcome 1:10 Massimo's Intro: Evo bio to philosophy 1:40 What's Real? - Growing up in Rome, "Catholic by default" - Accepting the christian world view, but questioning it early. The Trinity, transubstantiation - At communion: "It doesn't taste like human flesh" - Adopting secular humanism & turning to science & philosophy - The limitations of secular humanism: "When it came to real crises in my life... secular humanism was not very useful... it doesn't help me to think in terms of human rights when my father is dying" - Stoicism as a practical philosophy of ethics & how to live a meaningful life - Hume & Russell - Some of the commandments "seem a little narcissistic & self-centred coming from a god" - Jesus seems like a good guy but the Catholic church has taken some awful political positions over the centuries & today - Not blaming Jesus but instead blaming patriarchal forces inside & outside religion - Antivaxx, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine - "I don't believe that any unfounded belief is harmless, ultimately" - The attitude of taking unfounded beliefs seriously crosses boundaries easily. Jumping from one mystical or conspiracy theory to another - Hume "A reasonable person proportions his belief to the evidence"  - Faith as belief without evidence - The ony thing you don't want to do without belief is go to 0% or 100%. Bayesianism - Carl Sagan's It's nice to have an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out - Don't ask "is it possible?" ask "how likely is it to be true?" - The risk of dogmatic attitudes even amongst skeptics - People don't like being told they're idiots - Even a religious/supernatural worldview with modern ethics still presents a risk - When religious authority conflicts with compassionate ethics - As a secular humanist can disagree with Sagan or Seneca. As a Christian person I can't disagree with god or Jesus 21:21 What & Who Matters? - The Tolstoy fallacy "Unless there is a god you might as well go around murdering and raping" - Naturalistic ethics (Philippa Foot, Confucianism, virtue ethics and more...) ...And much more. Full show notes on YouTube and 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. Thanks for the post-prod Graham.