Helen (@hkopnina) is Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Business at the University of Northumbria & also lectures at The Hague University. Her research focuses on environmental education, biodiversity & corporate sustainability.
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
01:12 Helen's Intro
02:49 What's Real?
- The passage to caring about ecosystems for many ecocentrists was through a connection to individual animals
- Growing up atheist "just like everybody else in the Soviet Union" in Moscow
- Parents who were "wild about wilderness"
- Visiting Siberia "in the summer & without gulags"
- "I loved fairy tales" but firmly naturalistic
- "I'm still 99% atheist with 1% reserved for doubt"
- Political dissident parents, pushing back on ideology
- "When you don't have religion you create a religion yourself - & that was communism... we had Lenin & Marx as our gods..."
- Lenin, Marx & Engels as a "holy trinity"?
- "My parents instructed me that it was bullshit"
- Naturalistic ontology (no supernatural) & epistemology (use evidence & reason)
- Flat earth, anti-vaxx, one party states...
13:45 What (& Who) Matters?
- Kant, deontology, consequentialism...
- "You can call me a cynic - I don't think there is any absolute morality - I think we invent it."
- Injustice & unfairness
- Frans de Waal's fairness experiments with chimps
- "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are all about us humans" (vs. https://sentientism.info/how/sentientist-development-goals)
- "Why don't we have the same moral consideration for billions of other living beings - it just seems inconsistent... unjust"
- Environmental Justice isn't about the env. its about distribution of goods & harms among humans
- Wokeness, fairness, division & distribution. The risks of forcing pure equality (e.g. Soviet Union - bloody revolution then a new elite emerges)
- Avoiding relativism & nihilism. Can we construct a universal morality?
- The impacts on Soviet Union of WWII then Stalin
- "I see our planet as one of billions - so it doesn't really matter"
- Anthropology & cultural relativism "why is human sacrifice & cannibalism a good thing?"
- Moral progress "but things can be turned back too"
- Survival & reproductive rationales for morality "Otherwise you get beaten up"
- "Anger at inconsistency... it pisses me off that it just applies to one single species"
- Feminism: "I'm just not interested to be honest"
...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
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
강유원의 책담화冊談話
The Art of Manliness
A Catholic Commentary on the Chosen
Conversations With Coleman
Dear Hank & John