Dr. Brian Earp (@briandavidearp) is Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics & Health Policy & a Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. His work is cross-disciplinary, following training in philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, history & sociology of science and medicine, & ethics. He has written extensively on resisting traditional & religious justifications for causing harm – particularly to children through genital mutilation / circumcision. He wrote the book "Love Drugs" w/Julian Savulescu. Brian is also a professional singer & actor.

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:

0:00 Welcome

02:00 Brian's Intro - Academically trying to understand the world & lay out how it should be.

03:04 What's Real?

- Growing up in Seattle in a Free Methodist Evangelical Christian society

- Mum: Christianity & god. Dad: A more naturalist perspective

- "Evolution was something that might tempt us away from the path of righteousness"

- Unthinkingly accepting Christianity at first

- Asking questions of the pastor at 12/13 yrs. Is it fair to send people to hell who have never even heard of Jesus?

- The problem of evil... while being emotionally sensitive to the pain of others

- Taking "a very serious concern with morality" from mum's Christian worldview even as a kid

- Divine command theory: things are right/wrong because god says so

- Agnostic re: metaphysics: "What do you mean by god?"

- The burden of proof is on the claimant... "Wow - how are you confident about that?"

- Bible college vs. secular Yale

- Studying philosophy at college

- The fundamental fact claims fell apart

- Ethical concerns: religious homophobia etc. The tension between strict religious rules & personal compassionate intuitions "something has to go here!"

- "Unless I have an independent reason to believe one view over another..."

15:37 What Matters?

- Supernatural worldview risks to universal compassion

- Can compassion go too far? Undermining justice/fairness?

- Agnostic about the grounding of ethics / meta-ethics

- Instead a Quinian web of beliefs & intuitions I'm pretty darn sure about: "Needless suffering of an innocent person"... "Treating people differently without reason"... "concern for the disadvantaged / those without power or representation" then reasoning about cases

- "We should believe what we have best reason to believe"

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube.

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Thanks Graham.