Sentientism

68: Are Panpsychism, Veganism and Sentientism Compatible? - Luke Roelofs, Philosopher of Mind - Sentientist Conversation

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Luke (lukeroelofs.com & Majestic Equality) is a philosopher of mind at the Centre for Mind, Brain & Consciousness at New York University. Although Luke works primarily on philosophy of mind & metaphysics, their areas of interest include ethics, social & political philosophy, early modern philosophy and philosophy of gender & sexuality. Their book, "Reason, Empathy, and the Minds of Others" is under contract with Oxford University Press.

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." As well as the video above the audio is on our Podcast here on Apple and here on the other platforms.

We discuss:

0:00 Welcome

1:32 Luke's Intro - Philosophy of Mind

  • Linking epistemology (how can we know) and ethics
  • Empathy
  • Consciousness as "the state that we're in whenever we're aware of anything… and any possible variation… of states like that"

    • 3:41 What's Real?

    • Growing up fairly non-religious, but not anti-religious
    • Talking to "modern" Christians who focused on "the spirit of Jesus' ethos"
    • Seeking out more forthright religious perspectives
    • Being a fairly convinced atheist since 14 yrs
    • "There's very little evidential weight in the specific claims of religious revelation"
    • The idea the universe was contrived by a benevolent being… doesn't seem supported by the very morally mixed character of existence
    • "The great majority of existence is neither good nor bad - it's just dust in space"
    • Mysterious ways & ineffability
    • Theodicies as reminiscent of the excuses humans make for abuse
    • The "Just World" bias leads us to make excuses for suffering
    • Faith as belief without evidence or faith as trust in & loyalty to your group

      • 14:00 What (and Who) Matters?

      • Going vegan at 13-14 to spite an annoying person who pointed out the logical inconsistency of being vegetarian
      • "Fine… just to spite you I'm going to be vegan"

        • ... and much more. Full show notes on Sentientism.info.

        Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at sentientism.info. Join Luke on our "I'm a Sentientist" wall using this simple form.

        Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us!

        Thanks Graham for the post-production.

        ...more
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