Jordi is an ethical vegan, a zoologist and a veganism content writer and consultant. He has been involved in different aspects of animal protection for many years. He became well-known for securing ethical veganism as a protected characteristic under the UK Equality Act 2010 in a landmark Employment Tribunal case. He has worked doing campaigning, lobbying, scientific research, undercover investigations and consultancy. He has authored several books, including “Ethical Vegan: A Personal and Political Journey to Change the World”.
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
01:14 Jordi's Intro
- Adding new identities: Zoology, ethical vegan, activist, writer.
- Legal case re: ethical veganism becoming a protected philosophical belief in the UK
- Writing "The Ethical Vegan"
03:26 What's Real?
- Growing up in Catalonia as a Roman Catholic (like 99.9% of people there)
- Becoming atheist as a child despite "I never met one... I assumed that everybody else believed in the Catholic god"
- Other cultures seemed to be "pre-Catholic"
- Living under the oppression of Franco's fascist dictatorship "Catalan culture survived underground." "As a child... the message you get is 'this reality is not the real one'" "I have to maintain a reality against the reality around me" That led to questioning Catholicism
- Being bullied "The world was a completely hostile place to me... the country... the streets"
- Discovering the welcome of the animal world & nature "I could see there was something better"
- Catalan Catholicism was softer. More open to doubt than the fascist-friendly, Spanish version
- Internal struggle at 12 yrs "What happens if I don't believe"
- "Protestants tend to become agnostics. Catholics tend to become atheists."
- "I prayed to god to make me an atheist... so I can discover you by myself"
- Being anti-religious at first, but softening with age
- Secular Buddhism
- Formal institutional religions vs. more personal/flexible religions & spirituality
- "I built my philosophy from instinct"
- Naturalistic & mystical/spiritual connections with nature
- "That bark seems more important than what you were just saying" :)
- The same feeling of awe can be interpreted in spiritual or naturalistic ways
- Jordi's 13 hour lecture on "From Nothing to Everything - a Natural History of the Universe"
- "Reality is a subjective thing but also shared"... "Find the points in common"
...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info and on YouTube.
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
Thanks Graham.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sentientism/messageCheese Challenge & Pescetarian Paradox - Maja Cullen, Devon Docherty, Carol Jasper - Sentientism 200
"Reductionism is well-named. It reduces what you can do." - Michael Levin - Sentientism 199
"We need to imagine a different world" - Emilia Leese - author and host of Think Like a Vegan - Sentientism 198
Hip Hop is Going Green - Keith Tucker of Hip Hop is Green - Sentientism 197
Nigerian Food Revolution - Hakeem Jimo of Veggie Victory and ProVeg Nigeria - Sentientism 196
Consciousness Live! - with skateboarding philosopher Richard Brown - Sentientism 195
A Truly Humane Education - Laura Chepner - The Vegan Society's Education Officer - Sentientism 194
Imagining Ethical Schools - Sentientism 193
Is Veganic the Future of Farming? "We grow plants using plants" - Jimmy Videle - Sentientism 192
Half-Earth Socialism - Troy Vettese - Sentientism 191
"Your Neighbour Kills Puppies" - Tom Harris - Activist, Artist & Author - Sentientism 190
"A new world of animal justice" - Sabine Brels of World Animal Justice - Sentientism 189
Talking to Humanists about Sentientism - Cross-post bonus from Podcast for Inquiry - Sentientism 188
"What if we saw ourselves as species diplomats?" - David Peña-Guzmán of Overthink and SFSU - Sentientism 187
Could animal farming be good for the animals? The Logic of the Larder - with Nick Pendergrast - Cross-post bonus episode from 3CR's Freedom of Species radio show and podcast - Sentientism 186
"If you combine rationality and compassion you have the essence" - Jonathan Leighton of OPIS - Sentientism 185
Is veganism a moral obligation? Ghostless Machine cross-post bonus - Sentientism 184
Don't underestimate your influence! - Chris Bryant of Bryant Research - Sentientism 183
160: "Mother Cow, Mother India" - Yamini Narayanan - International Development A/Prof - Sentientism
Waking Cosmos - a cross-post bonus episode - Sentientism 182
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