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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Kim is an animal rights author, independent scholar, consultant, and speaker. He has 45 years of personal commitment as a vegan and professional experience in leadership positions with some of the world’s foremost animal advocacy organisations. The Kim Stallwood Archive is held by The British Library. He wrote Growl: Life Lessons, Hard Truths, and Bold Strategies from an Animal Advocate with a Foreword by Brian May (Lantern Books, 2014). He is currently working on the biography of an elephant called Topsy. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after working in a chicken slaughterhouse and a vegan in 1976. You can find Kim at https://kimstallwood.com/, https://twitter.com/grumpyvegan and https://www.instagram.com/kim_stallwood/.
You can find the video of our conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube Channel, along with full show notes.
In these Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is “evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.”
We discuss:
– Growing up in Surrey in a working class, Church of England community
– Joining the RSPCA and being against animal cruelty as a family
– Working in a chicken slaughter-house in 1973. An experience that changed everything
– Going vegetarian in 1974, only knowing 2 vegetarians
– Arguments with mum about going vegetarian + her going veggie without Kim noticing
– Going vegan (with mum, then family) in 1976
– Being the 2nd employee at Compassion in World Farming, then a lifetime in animal advocacy
– Theosophy’s themes of connectedness and opposing animal cruelty
– Learning philosophy as an animal advocate
– Making a clear break from Christianity
– Having a personal belief system: 4 key values, but not labelling with any spiritual system
– Camberley Kate’s care for non-humans and feeling outrage over how we treat other animals
– Compassion as the first key value. Identifying with the experience of other sentient beings and being motivated to help
– And much more…!
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our “wall” https://sentientism.info/wall/ using this form: https://sentientism.info/im-a-sentientist.
Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome to join our groups. Our main one is here on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
I gave this presentation to a meeting of the Dorset Humanist Group in the UK. It was a pleasure to be invited to talk and I really enjoyed the energetic and constructive discussion that followed. Don’t forget to subscribe if …continue
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David Clough is Professor and Chair in Theology and AppliedSciences at the University of Aberdeen. He is a Local Preacher in the Methodist Church. David is also co-president of the charity CreatureKind and he founded the DefaultVeg project, now part …continue
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Joan Slonczewski is a microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer who explores biology and space travel. Their books have twice earned the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel: “A Door into Ocean” and …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 20 October 2025
