Sentientism

This episode is a bonus cross-post of my discussion with Jordi Casamitjana on his Vegan Reflections series for the VeganFTA YouTube channel. Make sure you go and subscribe if you haven't already.  I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did talking to Jordi - feedback and suggestions are always welcome. As ever I'm only one Sentientist so others will disagree! If you want to hear me interview Jordi for Sentientism check out episode 104 on the Sentientism YouTube or podcast. These are the two blogs we discussed: The Meaning of “Animal” in Veganism. The zoologist Jordi Casamitjana explains the different meanings of the term “animal” in the context of veganism, and in all its dimensions. Dr Sailesh Rao, The Vegan Engineer Healing the Breaking World. Jordi Casamitjana interviews Dr Sailesh Rao, a systems engineer trying to heal the planet and build the vegan world. In ⁠⁠Sentientist Conversations⁠⁠ we talk about the three most important questions: “what’s real?”, “what (and who) matters?” and "how can we make a better future?" The Sentientism worldview 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! Thanks to Tarabella and Denise for chipping in with our production costs via the secret(ish) ⁠Sentientism Patreon⁠.

Arin Greenwood describes herself as an animal writer, novelist and lawyer. Her young adult book "Your Robot Dog Will Die" was published in 2018. Arin was animal welfare editor for The Huffington Post and now writes about dogs, cats, and other animals for The Today Show, The Dodo, The Washington Post, Slate, Creative Loafing, the American Bar Association Journal and many other publications. 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 - Kyle Johannsen episode 02:01 Arin's Intro - Dog lover, animal writer, former lawyer who has "written a couple of books" - Writing about animal welfare then working with animal advocacy and sanctuary organisations - Austin Pets Alive https://www.austinpetsalive.org/ 03:57 What's Real? - Growing up in a #Jewish family "And I'm still Jewish" - Secular Judaism "We identify as Jewish, we have a Jewish community, I had a Bat Mitzvah... we celebrate a lot of the Jewish holidays but it doesn't necessarily have a belief component to it" - Parents "go in and out of how spiritual they feel at any given moment" - "I don't feel like I know enough about the universe to say there's definitely no such thing as a higher power... I barely know what's happening inside my own house most days" - "My instinct is as a secular jew" - "There are people who know more than I do... I believe in expertise... I also believe in humility" 07:53 What Matters? - Regardless of whether there is a universal being... we do have knowable duties... to those who can feel happiness and those who can suffer" - "The hard part is figuring out what those duties are and how they exist in a practical sense" - "What difference does it make... if there's some sort of universal being... you should act in a good way regardless" - The #torah  story of Abraham and Isaac "where god does tell Abraham to kill his son... that's not a story about 'you must be good' that's a story of 'you must follow my instructions'" #Divinecommandtheory - JW: "We can have a hope that god might be benevolent... but if they're not we still have to do what we're told" - Naturalistic #epistemology and/or #ontology - "In Judaism we don't have hell... it's mostly 'you'll just really disappoint your mother'" - Morality, amorality and immorality - Moral foundations, #moralrealism or #antirealism - #Psychopath and #Sociopathy JW: "even they can find an intellectual path to not harming others" - JW: "Almost everybody has something you can start with... cares about their mother or their children or their friends... starting with the values they already hold... working with that... consistency" 21:20 Who Matters? - "I've been #vegetarian since I was six years old... I made the connection between the animals I enjoyed spending time with and what was on my plate... at that point it just became unthinkable to keep eating them." - "My husband... who doesn't share that same moral impulse... what do the normies think?" - The animal welfare world: "Even in that world there's a lot of inconsistency - animal shelter events will serve meat... director eats meat 01:15:20 Follow Arin - aringreenwood.com - @arin_twit - Arin on FaceBook ...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!

Molly is a writer, copywriter, editor, creative strategist and an animal rights activist. She is Founder and CEO of the non-existent farm, Elwoods Organic Dog Meat. 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 Clips 01:35 Welcome 03:20 Molly's Intro - Writing, copywriting & animal rights activism - 15 years in advertising - Starting the #ElwoodsOrganicDogMeat web site: "a vegan journey... through their own cognitive dissonance... to the realisation that they love animals and they actually don't want to eat them." - Going viral - "I think everyone's #vegan already... I don't think they're given the space to act on that... not given the moment to give it the thought... this gives them the chance to make all the vegan arguments that are already in their heart" 05:39 What's Real? - Not going to church growing up - Occasional visits to Lutheran church "but I didn't know what was happening... thinking the pastor was Jesus because he had long hair." - Dad: "There's just too much work to be done to waste a Sunday doing this" - Hearing of child abuse by a pastor - "It was never an #atheistic view... we never even talked about it... just 'this isn't our family - this isn't what we do'" - Parents in military. Travelling a lot, long hours "just going through the day" - At 12 yrs moving to a small, rural town "everybody was religious - I felt pretty left out" - Attending church youth group in high school "it was the boys and singing I wanted to go for :) - I really wanted to fit in. I got a Bible and I read it." - Asking youth group leaders questions: "If you can tell me what happened to the dinosaurs... why my parents are going to hell... why animals don't have souls... Once you've solved those for me... I'm ready to be baptised!" - "Let's isolate her away from the children... she's asking too many questions." - "It doesn't make any sense... Christianity had me in their palm and they rejected me" - "Going through the motions" in church youth group - At college youth group became a lot more religious "I realised this was not a group for me and I couldn't use this as my vehicle to belong." - "#Spirituality and #religion was never... even today is not part of my life" - Reading "The Buddha Got Stuck" then psychology - "I find personal growth to be my kind of spirituality" - A difficult time growing up "I was bullied... I was a bully... I have a lot of self-work I have to do" - "As we explore ourselves and find more peace with ourselves then we can be more at peace in the world" - "We all deal with so much suffering... if we understand ourselves we can heal a lot more in the world than we ever do through spirituality" - #trauma and "chips on our shoulders" - "We can make the world a lot better through personal growth than praying" - JW "We can have the benefits of spirituality without the spirit and without the supernatural" - The harms of supernatural beliefs via established religions, new age movements, wellness spaces, #conspiracy #conspirituality 01:16:02 Follow Molly (buying Elwood’s merch, free activist downloads and ways to get involved) - elwooddogmeat.com - mollyelwood.com - @ElwoodDogMeat - mollyelwood - instagram.com/molly.elwood - linkedin.com/in/mollyelwood ...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!

Dr Iyan Offor is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Birmingham City University conducting interdisciplinary, theoretical research focusing on global animal law, environmental justice, intersectionality, posthumanism and law in the Anthropocene. Iyan is passionate about delivering legal education and research that will lead to the improvement of protections for animals and the environment in law. Iyan teaches international environmental law and human rights, legal theory, legal research, and constitutional law. He will also be creating a new course on animals in environmental law. His new book, "Global Animal Law From The Margins", is published by Routledge. 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 Clips 01:22 Welcome - Josh Gellers (previous Sentientism guest) 03:00 Iyan's Intro - Socio-legal scholar. Animals, nature and the law - and how those interact with society - Improving educational options re: animal law: PhDs, masters projects, programmes, talks - "...that appetite for learning about animals, the environment and the law that's already there - [but] in many places there's not space" - Research: "How law can be used as a tool to try and improve animals lives... the core of what I'm trying to do" - New book: "Global Animal Law From The Margins" - Globallaw's multi-scale focus vs. #internationallaw (just the international level) - Feminist, queer & postcolonial perspectives on the animal question - "It ends up being a bit wacky... the international trading system... taking this forward-looking ethical approach... not the most natural bed-fellows but I think in the end it works"  06:58 What's Real? - An #atheist household in a very religious community (highlands of Scotland) and wider family - #bornagain #christian grand-parents "a healthy dose of trying to convert us... my parents weren't to thrilled about that but we were well prepared." - "I couldn't bring my #harrypotter books into the house because magic was seen as sinful and against god's will... it didn't make a lot of sense to me." - Christian cartoons and religion at school "There was a feeling of it being forced on us" - "I can see as quite problematic the ways in which children at school were expected to engage in Christian custom" - Exchange year in Singapore, multiculturalism, secularism re: separation of state and religion - Coming to understand grand-parents' turn to religion "they needed their faith" - "I identify as part of the queer community... growing up in that very small, rural and christian environment... growing up closeted... has been interesting" - Parents "gave us the information & gave us the freedom to make our own choice... that's an incredible privilege to have that freedom..." - "I don't practice or follow a religion... it's never felt like a gap in my life" 34:18 What and Who Matters? 01:11:39 A Better World? 01:28:19 Follow Iyan - https://twitter.com/IyanOffor - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iyan-offor/ - https://www.bcu.ac.uk/law/about-us/meet-our-staff/iyan-offor - Global Animal Law From The Margins “the e-book is reasonably priced” ...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!

Jane is an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Deakin Law School. Jane obtained degrees in Commerce, Law (with Honours), and a PhD in human rights law from Deakin University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (Teach for Australia) from the University of Melbourne. Jane has published research in relation to the human right to education, the human rights of disabled people, animal rights, and animal related laws. She has taught a variety of units, including human rights law, administrative law and contract law. She was a finalist for 'Academic of the Year' in the Australian Law Awards in 2019 and 2020. Her article titled 'Recognising the Sentience of Animals in Law: A Justification and Framework for Australian States and Territories’ was given an Australian Legal Research Award in 2022 for Best Early Career Research Article. Before embarking on her career in academia, Jane served as an associate in the inaugural Teach for Australia program. Prior to this, she was in private legal practice for a number of years, principally in commercial litigation. 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 02:41 Jane's Intro - Lawyer (“I didn’t really like that very much”), teaching high school (“enjoyable… but exhausting”), now academic research and teaching - Human rights PhD, now animal law focused “I often think about concepts that exist in human rights literature and think about how they might apply… to the animal rights space” 04:40 What's Real? - Catholic and Anglican Christian parents but neither “practicing”. Although some tension between the two families - Attending Lutheran school at 15 “Lacking in some self-confidence… the religious angle… allowed me a way to feel like I could connect with something… I tried really hard… but I always struggled with trying to make myself believe something that… doesn’t have a great deal of evidence.” - “I think there is  something other than what we can see, touch, feel and taste – but I’m not going to commit to knowing what that is” - What we can sense “humans can generally agree on those things… beyond that, there may be more – I don’t know” - “Some very intelligent people I know are deeply religious… I have no problem with that except where they decide that that allows them to hurt others. That’s where I draw the line.” 11:42 What Matters? - Parents’ religions didn’t affect childhood ethics much - Lutheran… “By and large… big hearted, generous, empathetic, wonderful people.” But “I took great pleasure… in debating the alleged sins of homosexuality with some of the pastors.” - “I always found issues with these rigid rules that didn’t really make a lot of sense to me” - Developing morality through reading fiction “I read a truck-load… through fiction I developed a strong sense of empathy… that’s what drove me then and drives me today” 14:54 Who Matters - “Veganism back then was absolutely radical” 47:00 A Better World? 01:15:57 Follow Jane - “I don’t do a lot of social media… people can of course email me!” - Jane at Deakin - Jane’s Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law talk: “Sentience and Intrinsic Worth as a Pluralist Foundation for Fundamental Animal Rights” ...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 discussion about Sentientism with Claudia Hirtenfelder on her wonderful podcast, The Animal Turn. Make sure you go and subscribe if you haven't already. Go back and listen from the start too! Claudia has hosted so many mind-expanding conversations spanning five seasons so far. In ⁠Sentientist Conversations⁠ we talk about the three most important questions: “what’s real?”, “what (and who) matters?” and "how can we make a better future?" The Sentientism worldview 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! Thanks to Tarabella and Denise for chipping in with our production costs via the secret(ish) Sentientism Patreon.

John is a writer, philosopher, cultural critic and magician. He is best known for his book, The Postmodern Prince, and for his more recent work in Critical Animal Studies where he edited the collection "Critical Theory and Animal Liberation". Also in that field his book "The Omnivore's Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and the Nature of Moral Life" will be published by NYU Press in 2024. He has taught at the University of Illinois Chicago, DePaul University, and the University of California Santa Cruz, and is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where he teaches ethics, politics, existentialism, and other courses.  In his spare time, he performs as a professional magician and mentalist. 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 02:10 John's Intro - Philosopher - Critical theorist "begins from the perspective of the world being unfree - and works from there - how do we build a world that is free?" - "Since a kid I've been very interested in justice - social justice for all beings" - Anti-nuclear weapons movement in college - Solidarity movement against US interventions in Central America - "When you become interested in claims of justice - it's a slippery slope - you broaden yourself out from there" - Reading Peter Singer's "Famine, affluence and morality" (Peter Singer Sentientism episode here) #utilitarianism "we should all give 90% of our income" - Singer's "Animal Liberation... turned me into a #vegetarian... got me on this path" - Growing up in Massachusetts - "Concerns oriented around liberation and justice" - Professional magician & mentalism 05:10 What's Real? - Brought up Unitarian - Father "pretty much an atheist". Mother "Jewish but mostly a secular Jew". "I kind of think they met in the middle." - "The pilgrims would have been horrified by the liberalism of the modern Unitarian church" - Celebrating Passover "the liberation of the Jews... a narrative about freedom... more general liberation" - "In the 70's people believed in psychic phenomena... ferment around supernaturalism... almost animism... maybe there are aliens... maybe the plants are listening to us" - "#UriGeller was a big inspiration to me at the time... I would spend hours in my room trying to move pennies with my mind" - "What I thought was real at the time turns out wasn't real :)" - Japanese American father "I grew up in a completely white town... I experienced a lot of racism... that experience was real. Ordinary events were shot through with the potential for harm or vulnerability... grounded me... an attentiveness towards suffering - my own suffering and the suffering of other people." - Charles Mills' "Blackness Visible" criticism of Descartes'... "Do I really exist" isn't a question black people are really asking. "They know they exist because they're getting beaten up - they're aware their body is real... it takes a certain privileged position to doubt your corporeal reality" 43:12 What and Who Matters? 01:00:55 A Better Future? 01:32:36 Follow John - johnsanbonmatsu.com - @SanbonmatsuJ ...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!

Luke is a lecturer working in the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter. His research examines social and moral development between childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Between 2017 and 2020 he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow on the Wellcome Trust, ESRC and NSF funded “STEM Teens” project. This project examined the role of youth educators in informal science learning sites, both by longitudinally following youth educators and by quasi-experimentally examining their role in these sites. 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 - Previous guests Kristof Dhont (ep:47), Matti Wilks (ep:45) - PHAIR Society conference https://phairsociety.org/ 01:53 Luke Intro - Social & moral developmental #psychology - Human prejudice, discrimination - fairness, co-operation, resource allocation - PHAIR symposium on "The Meat Paradox" "That was a big inspirational moment for me" - Tania Lombrozo ep:168 04:13 What's Real? - "The beauty of this podcast is forcing people to wrestle with their own socialisation" - Mum from Northern Ireland & dad from Scotland "culturally religious backgrounds" - Going to church & "learning about the more scientific worldview alongside that... I wrestled with the conflict of those two things when I was younger" - Rural childhood "being face to face with the natural world" - "I sort of decided for myself when I was about 11 or 12 years old that the religious side of it was not really for me" - "My parents were so respectful of whatever we wanted to do as kids" - #punk and #metal - "There's lots of people who come from sub-cultures into this animal rights movement... it's those sub-cultural spaces where these more radical ideas are first laid down and then expand out into the broader world" - Nico Delon ep 159 - @moby 's Punk Rock Vegan Movie - "I haven't gone as far as the full animal rights sleeve tattoo yet but there's still time" - Peer influence "your parents might act as your early socialisers but a lot of what happens from when you're 6-7 years and older is down to the circles you're moving with in outside the home" - A vegetarian friend at 13 - "If you work in science for long enough you stop believing that anything can be proven 100%... do not use the word 'proof'... you cannot use that word." - "I'm with you - the more naturalistic view" - Nature-facing spiritual movements "pagans are on the rise again... people are turning back to nature" - Epistemological issues: #QAnon #antivaxx #flatearth #BigLie #trump #astrology #homeopathy #covid19 ... - "There could be a rational computational model for how we interact with the world but that's just not how it works - the social world is impossibly complicated and the human brain is not very well set up to understand... so we have to use these more simple heuristics" - "We see the importance of group membership time and time again - that identity aspect" - #ReplicationCrisis - "We have to use these simple decision-making processes because everything is too complicated" - "We can dream of being the rational thinker but we're never going to get there" - #misinformation , #disinformation , #conspiracy - Genuine vs. performative belief? - "What does it mean to really believe something?" ...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 a salon session about Sentientism with the American Ethical Union back in February 2022 hosted by Hugh Taft-Morales. Amy Halpern-Laff and I (Jamie Woodhouse) presented the Sentientism worldview and we had a great Q&A session with the group. If you prefer video you can watch the session on the AEU YouTube channel here. Find out more about the AEU on their website here. In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what (and who) matters?” The Sentientism worldview 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!

Tania is the Arthur W. Marks Professor of Psychology at Princeton University. She oversees the Concepts and Cognition Laboratory, which uses the empirical tools of cognitive psychology and the conceptual tools of analytic philosophy to study the human mind. Their research focuses on topics including explanation, learning, causal reasoning, and folk epistemology.  Tania is the recipient of numerous early-career awards including the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the Spence Award from the Association for Psychological Science, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award in Understanding Human Cognition. She blogs about psychology, philosophy, and cognitive science at Psychology Today and for NPR’s 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. 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 01:49 Tania Intro - #interdisciplinary human #cognitivescience - Links to #epistemology & #ethics "I came to cognitive science from a background largely in philosophy of science & epistemology" - Questions at the boundary of empirical psychology & philosophy "how can we know things, what is knowledge, what does it mean to understand, how do we acquire understanding, how can we make the correct decisions" - "We can learn a lot from #philosophy " - What makes a compelling explanation & why we are so motivated to explain 03:57 What's Real? - "Because I am a psychologist I'm deeply sceptical of my own introspective sense" - Growing up in a #Jewish household and "I still identify as Jewish" - Jewish identity, community, ritual... "at the same time I feel like theistic beliefs just played pretty much no role in that at all" - Prayers: "They certainly talk about god, they certainly talk about occurrences that seem very, very implausible... but that just seemed to me to be not deeply connected to what was valuable or important about that religious identity growing up" - "That sounds somewhat foreign to many people I know from other religions where belief is really at the core of what it means to have a particular kind of a religious identity" - Not speaking Hebrew "you're able to get to a certain point where something might have meaning for you... before you actually know what it means" - "I definitely had experiences of actually reading the translations and being taken aback by them... this is what I've been saying?" - Hebrew School "I told my parents that it I thought it was a waste of time and I didn't want to keep going" - In high school "sought out Jewish education on my own... I discovered I was the only person there whose parents hadn't forced them to be there... it was a miserable class" - "I had a Jewish wedding... one of the conversations that we had with our Rabbi was that we didn't want god to be mentioned" - "Threading that needle... preserve some elements of a tradition that's meaningful... how to do it in a way that's consistent with other values that I hold." - "I think I'm a straightforward boring naturalist" - "I have no doubt that I routinely employ all sorts of background assumptions that I have not subjected to scrutiny & that I could not give good evidence based arguments for..." What Matters? 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!