Jonathan Balcombe is an ethologist and author. He lectures internationally on animal behavior and the human-animal relationship. Jonathan’s books include: The Use of Animals in Higher Education; Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good; Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals; What A Fish Knows and SuperFly.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"
Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
00:00 Clips
01:00 Welcome
- Links to previous episodes: Jo-Anne McArthur, Marc Bekoff, Claudia Hirtenfelder, Jordi Casamitjana "people who are really thinking about sentience and its importance in the world"
03:06 Jonathan's Intro
- "I'm Canadian but I'm also American and British"
- Biology, ethology, animal behaviour, then non-profit animal protection
- "I was always very interested but also concerned about the wellbeing of animals... non-human animals because of course we're animals as well"
- "Then I discovered I was pretty good at writing books!"
- "Sentience... what animals are thinking, what are they feeling..."
- "It's a very exciting time to be an ethologist... scientists are asking questions that were considered taboo... the inner livesof animals... The taboo is gone."
- "There's a lot going on between the ears of a hedgehog or an elephant or a fish... not just vertebrates... there's a lot going on in the insides of animals without a backbone... insects, arthropods, crustaceans... octopuses and squids and nautiluses... the darlings of invertebrate sentience"
- "Somebody thinking about thinking in non-humans"
- JW: "Science has had to catch up with common sense"
07:35 What's Real?
- Non-religious parents but mum joined the Quakers when pregnant with Jonathan
- "As my body was forming inside my mum's womb, religion was coming into her life"
- "I go to a Catholic church, not because I'm Catholic but because I sing... it's good for me, it's good for my health and my spirit"
- "It's a bit ironic that this atheist, me, goes to a Catholic church every Sunday..."
- "My partner is Catholic... when I met her she was a Catholic omnivore and now she's just a Catholic"
- "I'm not working on her to try to convert her and she's not trying to convert me... by and large our worldviews are verycompatible"
- Quaker principles "Two of them I really like... non-violent and peaceful... open freedom of expression..."
- "In the worship... anyone can get up and speak at anytime... "
22:32 What (and Who) Matters?
41:35 A Better World?
01:12:00 Follow Jonathan:
- "Super Fly"
- "Jake and Ava"
- jonathanbalcombe.com (sign up for his newsletter!)
And more... full show notes at Sentientism.info.
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!