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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Kristof is a social psychologist and senior lecturer at the university of Kent where he runs SHARKLab (Study of Human InterGroup & Animal Relations). He is the author of “Why We Love and Exploit Animals”.
We discuss:
– The psychology of human-animal relations
– Links between sexism, racism & speciesism
– “Us humans are weird”. We’re not fully rational decision makers
– Being sceptical of our own rationality
– Knowing the right answer isn’t the same as persuading others to agree or make changes
– Growing up in Belgium, a largely Catholic country but with many who are non-practicing
– Attending church, then becoming “strongly atheist” because of evidence, but also “the nasty stuff” (sexism, homophobia, racism)
– Being raised with values of compassion & respect. Finding those values in Christianity, other religions and in Humanism
– Moving to a more nuanced view of the good and bad in religion
– Traditions and rituals have value for some people. As long as they don’t cause harm to people outside or within the group
– The abuse of power in institutionalised religion
– Pre-human proto-morality
– We don’t need supernatural beliefs to justify compassionate ethics. We just need them too justify harmful ethics
– Religious schooling
– Being angry with the world as a teenager: religion; capitalism; animal products; injustice – then being led to study human behaviour
– Taking teenage rebellion and applying it to social justice activism in academia
– Moral intuitions re: “freedom, equality and avoiding harm to others”
– Freedom & equality shouldn’t just be left wing concerns. They’re much more widely shared
– Sentience matters re: moral consideration, not intelligence
– Are freedom and equality fundamental or important because of how they impact suffering/flourishing?
– Caring about animals. Having companion animals as family members
– The Meat Paradox
– Seeing a family member killing chickens and rabbits
– The hardcore punk music scene & Straight Edge. Bands with a clear, constructive message re: politics & animal ethics & anti-fascism (vs. more pessimistic grunge and 1970’s punk)
– “I can’t keep eating meat any more”, supported by the positive social pressure of the music scene & friends making the change
– Parents initially resisting veg*nism, needing to learn DIY (it’s easier now!)
– Learning about dairy/eggs & going vegan at University
– Wild animal suffering and how to prioritise it vs. animal farming/fishing. The risk of paternalism/hubris
– Effective Altruism
– Benevolent & hostile sexism
– Sentientism’s focus on inclusive moral consideration
– The challenges of rescue and sanctuary animals and predator companion animals
– The default human answer of “kill them all” re: issues with wild animals
– Animals don’t care what category we put them in. They suffer just the same
– And much more… (full notes at https://sentientism.info/)
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 on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
Thanks, Graham for the post-prod: https://twitter.com/cgbessellieu.
Jane (https://twitter.com/JVM) is a TV broadcaster, author, journalist & now CEO of the animal rights non-profit Jane Unchained (https://janeunchained.com/). She has written four books, two of which were NY Times bestsellers. In these Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 13 April 2021
Tom Cledwyn describes himself as the “chief emailer” at Drop Dead Generous (he’s actually the co-founder). Inspired by Chris Anderson’s (of TED) book, “Infectious Generosity”, Tom and his co-founder John Sweeney set up DDG as an experiment in sparking creative, …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 21 September 2025
Jack Waverley is a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Manchester. He uses marketing and consumer research to protect and promote the interests of all animals, including humans. Jack teaches on a range of BSc and MSc courses …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 6 September 2025
