We discuss the biggest questions: "what's real?", "who matters?" and "how to make a better world?" with scientists, celebrities, activists, writers and philosophers. The Sentientism worldview is "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." It's a simple, yet radical, philosophy that's grounded in reality (naturalistic epistemology) and has compassion for all sentient beings (mostly human and non-human animals). Naturalism & sentiocentrism combined.
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Dr. Mark Solomon is an author, neuropsychologist, musician and radio show/podcast host whose work touches on a wide range of topics. Mark produces a national Street Epistemology radio show/podcast called “Being Reasonable” (beingreasonableshow.com, @B_Reasonable_, @Being Reasonable)
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
01:25 Mark’s Intro
– @Street Epistemology . Conversations about “what you know and how you know it” @Anthony Magnabosco , Reid Nicewonder @Cordial Curiosity
02:44 What’s Real?
– Flat Earth
– Backfire effect
– Talking less about the belief & more about the reasons for the belief
– Improving our epistemology, not just “correcting” beliefs
– “I grew up in a Jewish household that didn’t discuss god”
– Living with two separate epistemologies: naturalism / humanism but culturally Jewish
– “I couldn’t even tell you that my rabbi believed in the supernatural”
– SE as a tool anyone can use
– Evidence & reason
– Objectivity & subjectivity
– Reality, truth, belief & opinion
– Starting conversations with understanding how people think of truth
27:44 What Matters?
– “I don’t know”
– “I try to be a selfless person but sometimes I act selfishly”
– “I just act – I don’t know if I have a choice”
– Uncertainty, psychology & moral foundations
– Suffering vs. flourishing (causing bad feelings in others is bad)
– Moral origins in evolution & psychology
– Determinism & free will
– Pre & non-human morality
– Compassion & co-operation as evolutionarily adaptive
– Virtue, deontology, utility, feminist care, relational ethics
– “If there were no sentient beings there would be no morality”
– Internal (warm fuzzy feelings, reciprocity…) & external reasons to be good
– True altruism & demandingness. “At least don’t needlessly cause suffering & death”
– Emotional & intellectual routes to compassion
– Alleviating suffering vs. enhancing flourishing
– Universal Declaration of Human Rights
48:15 Who Matters?
– Nagel’s “What is it like to be a bat?”
– Getting backyard chickens for eggs & as pets
– “It’s become painfully obvious to us that they are really smart creatures with their own social order… they definitely feel suffering.”
– “There are some really stark commonalities between humans & chickens”
…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!
Thanks Graham.
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