Economics is often defined as the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. That makes it sound like an exclusively human field but maybe we can re-conceive it in broader, Sentientist terms.
When it comes to the naturalism of Sentientism, economics already aspires to consistently apply evidence and reason. As with all the social sciences, of course it struggles with the breathtaking complexity of human behaviour and systems. Simplistic "rational actor" models fail to capture our human weirdness and the full range of human biases warp and constrain thinking as they do in every field.
When it comes to our moral scope there's even more work to be done. Feminist Economics and Development Economics are trying to corrrect intra-human exclusions and biases. Some economists are also addressing environmental concerns, such as suspected sentientist Kate Raworth's "Doughnut Economics" (see the image above) and those working on Ecological Economics and Environmental Economics. Those more ecocentric approaches often really reflect an anthropocentric concern for "our" environment rather than a genuine extension of moral consideration. As is all too common with ecocentrism and environmentalism the interests of individual sentient animals rarely get a look in - instead being considered as anonymous components of ecosystems or as resources for instrumental human use.
To address that anthropocentric bias we can dig into the roots of economics. When we consider the "production, distribution and consumption of goods and services" we're ultimately talking about value. What is valuable for different beings? How is value found, created, exchanged and destroyed? In addition, classical economics often feels like it's only concerned with monetary value. However, economists already consider barter and other forms of value transactions and the field of Happiness Economics is already trying to consider value in a wider, more ethically connected way ("it's not all about money!") in the human realm. Once we're thinking about value in that broader sense maybe it gets easier to imagine some of the things a Sentientist Economics might consider:
Could papers like this one by economist and suspected sentientist Nicolas Treich (see our conversation here) and this article asking "Can Doughut Economics be Vegan?" (and here in Dutch - p27)" mark the start of a new field of Sentientist Economics? Here's hoping.
Here's a Twitter list of people linked to Sentientist Economics ideas. More nominations always welcome!
This page will let you know what we’ve been up to but I wanted to share a few highlights:
Criticism, suggestions, offers of help and amplification / sharing are always welcome. Thanks so much for all the help so far and to those who’ve been doing their own things to develop our collective Sentientism project – working to normalise “evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings”. A special thanks to Denise and Tarabella who have found our Patreon page and are contributing to our production costs.
The numbers below should give some indication of how many of the remaining ~7.7 billion humans (let alone the powerful AIs) we have yet to persuade 😊. As ever, you and friends are very welcome in any of our online groups. They’re open to anyone interested, not just sentients who have a Sentientist worldview:
Raising Awareness:
Communities (a big thank you to the volunteers that set up and run each of these):
Walls:
Please forward this on to others who might find the Sentientism worldview interesting! They can sign up for updates at the bottom of Sentientism.info.
I hope you and yours are well. Here’s to a more compassionate, thoughtful world,
Jamie.
Find our Sentientist conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism Podcast.
Peter is often referred to as the “world’s most influential living philosopher.” He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secular, naturalistic, utilitarian perspective. He wrote the books "Animal Liberation", Why Vegan? and "Animal Liberation Now!" (launched on the same day as our Sentientism episode - join his speaking tour here!), in which he argues against speciesism and for a shift to plant-based food systems and veganism. He also wrote the essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" and the books "The Life You Can Save" & "The Most Good You Can Do" which argue for effective altruism - using evidence & reasoning to do the most good we can for all sentient beings both human and not.
In 2004 Peter was recognised as the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. In 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald placed him among Australia's ten most influential public intellectuals. Singer is a cofounder of Animals Australia & the founder of The Life You Can Save. In 2021 he received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. Peter donated the $1 million prize money to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.
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 audio is on our Podcast here on Apple & here on all the other platforms.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
06:12 What's Real?
26:25 What Matters?
38:58 Who Matters?
01:10:05 How Can We Make A Better Future?
Following Peter:
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info.
Join our “I’m a Sentientist” wall using this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on Facebook.
Thanks to Graham for the post-production and to Tarabella and Denise for helping to fund this episode via our Sentientism Patreon.
Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism podcast and here on the Sentientism YouTube.
Michael is head of philosophy at the University of Liverpool. His current work spans transhumanism, death and meaning. He has written on whether non-human animals can have meaningful lives and What It Is Like to Be a Bot. He says of his work: “As a philosopher, I am a generalist, which is a nice way of saying that I have done many different things and I am not really an expert on anything in particular. Most people would probably tag me as an ethicist, but this is only true in a very broad sense. Figuring out what is right and what is wrong, permissible or impermissible, does not hold much interest for me. It seems to me that when people are debating these questions they are actually arguing about something else, namely who we want to be and in what kind of world we want to live. For me, doing philosophy is ultimately a sustained attempt to get to grips with this “deeply puzzling world” (to borrow an expression of Mary Midgley’s), to understand it and to understand our place in it. Philosophy is not business; it’s personal, more akin to therapy than to science. It’s about finding out what is actually going on and what we are doing here. Can philosophy provide an answer to these questions? I don’t know. All we can do is keep on trying. Perhaps what matters is not that we find an answer, but that we keep the question alive.”
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 audio is on our Podcast here on Apple & here on all the other platforms.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
01:42 Michael's Intro
06:06 What's Real?
29:03 What Matters?
45:35 Who Matters?
01:26:44 How Can We Make a Better Future?
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info.
Join our “I’m a Sentientist” wall using this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on Facebook.
Thanks to Graham for the post-production and to Tarabella and Denise for helping to fund this episode via our Sentientism Patreon.