Constantine is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, Director of Lex Academic & a Fellow of the RSA. He describes his philosophical interests as “unfashionably broad, but I work primarily in the philosophy of action, moral psychology & interpersonal understanding. I also have an interest in the psychology of philosophy, as advanced by Hume, Nietzsche, & Wittgenstein.” He spent most of his twenties as a theatre director & playwright.
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 
01:15 Constantine's Intro
- "I'm looking forward to finding out if I'm a Sentientist or not"
- Teaching & researching philosophy
- Phil of action, Wittgenstein & Hume, virtue ethics, anti-vegan rhetoric
- Rejecting the separation betweeen human & non-human animals "Who are 'we' anyway?"
- The value of improving human worldviews (epistemology & ethics)
- Beliefs & values & reasons driving action
08:07 What's Real?
- Greek Orthodox Christian upbringing but "science was taken very seriously"
- Born in India, living in Zimbabwe
- Being placed in "Protestant" vs. "Catholic" or "Ethics" class
- Agnostic as a teenager
- Degree at Oxford in phil & theology "By the end of that degree I was atheist"
- "The more you read about it [the bible] as a human text..."
- Studying Christian moral reasoning & Nietzsche
- Wittgenstein & Kierkegaard
- "I'm not one of those Dawkins style atheists"
- "I just don't have this faith"
- "Everyday life was very naturalistic"
- Culturally Christian
- Those who stay religious but update the ethics
- "I think there are things we can't explain"
- Doubt as central to science & naturalism
- "I know the precise second I switched from agnostic to atheist" in a phil of religion lecture: "Just because it's possible something exists & you can't disprove it's existence doesn't mean you're agnostic about it... a 3 headed dragon in some other galaxy." Atheism & Adragonism :)
- Norms re: religious rituals/marriage
- Why do religious organisations get a pass re: basic ethics? (sexism, homophobia, abuse)?
- Atheist societies often suffer from similar problems
- The good that can come from religion
- Allen Ginsberg re: homophobia in Cuba
- Post-truth, QAnon, homeopathy, Flat Earth... epistemology fails
- Refusing medical treatment on religious grounds
- Vountary euthanasia
- Wearing the hijab
- Personal autonomy, but don't harm others
35:18 What (and who) matters?
...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.