Philip is a writer from Aotearoa New Zealand, of Pākehā (NZ European) & Māori (Ngāi Tahu) descent. He is a PhD candidate at the Uni of Sydney, affiliated with the Sydney Environment Institute. He holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy from The Uni of Auckland & diplomas in te reo Māori (the Māori language) from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Philip has written for publications such as the Guardian, Newsroom, & Takahē. His book, Love Notes: for a Politics of Love, is published by Lantern Books. In 2018, he co-organised 'The Politics of Love: A Conference' at All Souls College, Oxford. Philip was also kaiwhakatipu (editor) of He Ika Haehae Kupenga.
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
01:54 Philip's Intro
- Writing on animals, Maori issues & "The Politics of Love"
03:10 What's Real?
- Neither parent very religious so grew up agnostic?
- Anglican Christian high school
- Sermons talked more about love than god
- Confirmed at 14 yrs... "ridiculous... what do 14 yr olds know?"
- "A lot of the metaphysical background was smuggled in"
- Anglicanism to comparative religion to philosophy
- Turning from metaphysical to normative/ethics/politics
-  "The final nature of reality is unknowable to us & we just have to proceed on our senses"
- Albert Camus
- The risk of being distracted by esoteric philosophical questions... instead "We need to be engaged in work that tried to bring about a better world in the light of obvious suffering"
- "I do believe there is something transcendent that is true... spiritual... love"
- "Communing with the spiritual... but through a critical filter"
- "Prophets of love... Martin Luther King Jr & Te Whiti O Rongomai"
- God, purpose, meaning, spirit, love... "Our attempts to name it... project our own interpretations on to it... prevent us from fully understanding..."
- Ethical risks from religious or spiritual epistemologies (unchallengeable, unknowable, incommunicable, obedience, higher purposes, constrained/conditional compassion)
- Old, new testaments, "what would the next step be?... Something like love?... a more mature ethical outlook."
- Is something missing from a purely naturalistic ethics? "Not necessarily... we should & can find reasons for acting in a loving way independently from this spirituality I have described."
26:30 What Matters?
- "I understand ethics in relation to love & relationship"
- Constructing & affirming the morality we want to see in the world
- "We are living in an absurd world... we need to determine & assert our own values... try to act lovingly"

...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.
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Thanks Graham.