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.