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.

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Thanks Graham.