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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Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics with a background in philosophy. He works mostly in practical ethics and is best known for his books “Animal Liberation Now” and “Why Vegan?” and for his writings about global poverty. You can find our first Sentientist conversation on episode 156. His new book, Consider the Turkey, is available now from Princeton University Press.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and “how can we make a better world?”
Sentientism answers those questions with “evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
00:00 Clips!
01:12 Welcome
– Sentientism merch 🙂
– Sentientism in the classroom03:45 Touring China
– “If those of us in the animal movement can’t have some influence on China… what we’re doing in the West is a sideshow”
– “China has more farmed animals than any other country
in the world and it has really no national animal welfare laws…”
– “China’s meat consumption has been growing enormously
since the country became more prosperous… That’s something I felt I wanted to try and have an influence on”
– The difficulty of influencing China from an outside perspective
– “Try to plant some seeds there… animal ethics… raise some questions about what we’re eating…”
– “Encourage some of the professors… to teach more courses… practical ethics… animal ethics…”
– Boycotting vs. engaging with autocratic states?
– “I don’t think that [boycotting] is going to lead to any progress… harden attitudes… ‘If these westerners don’t want to speak to us… we can manage perfectly well on our own’… and they can… It’s really important to engage with them.”
– “It’s still possible to make a difference by influencing individuals… a lot has happened because some people have moved away from eating animals… helping to put some pressure on the meat industry and on supermarkets”
– “Professors who have quite a lot of autonomy in what
they teach… not complete… but… to put on courses in practical ethics and animal ethics”
– How are epistemology and ethics different in Chinese
culture?
– “I don’t think anybody made a statement that I would
regard as faith-based… referring to god or some divine purpose” although Buddhism / daoism
– “Certainly open to the facts… science of animal sentience… nobody questioned that… nobody questioned evolution…”
– “Very much like talking to an audience in the west that was university educated where also you don’t get very many challenges to a science-based view”
– Religion and autocracy/authoritarianism as two different sources of dogmatism?
25:52 Consider the Turkey
Follow Peter
– PeterSinger.info (and you can chat to PeterSinger.AI there)
– Peter’s Bold Reasoning Substack
– Peter’s Lives Well Lived podcast with Kasia de Lazari Radek
And 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.
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Noella Williams is a Brooklyn-based freelance culture writer whose writing has appeared in Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, the Washington Post, Vox and elsewhere. Noella’s reporting ranges from Black culture to queer identity to intersectional veganism, internet culture, and more. She …continue
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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
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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
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