98: ”Wars start because someone gets annoyed.” - Dr Richard Firth-Godbehere - History of Emotion - Sentientism

Dr. Richard Firth-Godbehere PhD is one of the world’s leading experts on disgust and emotions. He is an independent researcher and consultant in the history, language, science & philosophy of emotions & an honorary research fellow at the centre for the history of the emotions, Queen Mary University of London. Richard’s first book, "A Human History of Emotions" (also known as "Homo Emoticus") will soon be published in over a dozen languages in countries ranging from Japan to the USA, from Australia to Brazil.

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

01:27 Richard's Intro

- The history of human emotions

- Academia & public engagement

- History "never talked about feelings" but wars start "because someone gets annoyed"

- You can't really separate emotion & rationality "You cannot make a decision unless you feel something"

- Interdisciplinary

06:00 What's Real?

- Lapsed Catholic mother & an "its all bloody rubbish-arian" father

- Scientific family; Doctors, engineers, nurses. "We didn't go into the seminary"

- Joining mum in a spiritual phase. Tarot, mediums, psychics...

- Realising you could "read people" without tarot

- "Yeh - this is a load of rubbish"

- "Firmly atheist". The incoherence of "god". "If it's timeless it doesn't exist anywhen, if it's spaceless it doesn't exist anywhere"

- "Every answer... has come down firmly not on the side of the supernatural"

- "In a world where we have a billion HD cameras... why do we only see blurry photographs [of ghosts]?"

- Hume's scepticism

- The Kalam Cosmological Argument "doesn't get you back to god... it could have been a farting space pixie!"

- "People assume emotions mean 'irrational'"

- Science is driven by excitement, wonder, passion & curiosity

- "The idea that science is people in lab coats with no feelings is completely wrong"

- "Emotion is a driver & part of decision-making"

- "The Stoics didn't suppress their emotions, they used them!"

19:10 What (& Who) Matters?

- Ethics comes from us being an evolved group animal. "If we all went around stabbing each other we wouldn't be here"

- The Golden Rule

- Secular Humanism

- Well-being for humans & beyond

- "I have a real problem with 'everyone must be happy!'"

- Negative emotions (e.g. appropriate fear) can help wellbeing

- Good/bad forms of hate & love

- The harm of "toxic happiness." It's OK to feel down

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

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Thanks Graham.