Principle of Charity

We hope to live a life filled with joy, excitement, contentment, purpose, love, meaning and transcendence. Whereas sadness, pain, grief, loneliness, anger, jealousy and anxiety, aren’t so much fun. And when things take a turn for the worst, we can fall into a number of clinical disorders, including depression, which are sadly all too prevalent. But we’re lucky to live in a society where there’s real expertise to help us through these difficult emotions; clinical psycho therapies, medicine, even evidence-based life hacks like exercise, sleep and the right diet. And if we want to move from just surviving to thriving, we have a whole movement in positive psychology to help define the tools needed to really live our best lives.For who doesn’t want to be happy? It’s not just that happy people tend to be more successful (and yes, recent studies show that causation in fact moves in that direction rather than the other way). It’s that it feels better to be happy, than sad. And we’re hard wired to choose pleasure over pain.  But do we need to challenge the assumptions that sit behind our cultural obsession with happiness? If we put all our energy into improving our wellbeing and happiness, are we missing out on hugely valuable and potentially transformative experiences that lie in those less pleasant shadow emotions? Should we lean into, rather than avoid feelings of sadness, anxiety, fear and loneliness? Rubin NaimanRubin Naiman, PhD, FAASM, is a psychologist, Fellow in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, clinical assistant professor of medicine and the sleep and dream specialist at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in the U.S. He is the leader in the development of integrative medicine approaches to sleep and dream disorders, integrating sleep science with depth psychological perspectives. Dr. Naiman is the author of groundbreaking works on sleep, including Healing Night, The Yoga of Sleep, Hush, and pivotal medical book chapters as well as scientific and consumer articles on sleep and dreams.Sue Langley Sue is the founder and CEO of the Langley Group and Academic Director of the Langley Group Institute which offers the world's first government accredited Diploma in Positive Psychology. Sue's passion for positive psychology, emotional intelligence and neuroscience and her unwavering belief in the ability of individuals to thrive and flourish have made her a prominent figure in the field. The Langley Group is a consultancy specialising in transforming organisations and their people through the science of human flourishing. Sue's experience shows that the theoretical understanding and practical application of neuroscience, emotional intelligence and positive psychology research will inspire leaders and teams to build positive cultures and optimal performance. CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information

This week the Honorable Dr Andrew Leigh MP, and philosopher Peter Singer, join host Lloyd Vogelman on the couch for an unfiltered conversation that digs into the personal side of the Principle of Charity.Peter Singer - BioPeter Singer is emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He has a background in philosophy and works mostly in practical ethics. He is best known for Animal Liberation and for his writings about global poverty.In 2021, Peter received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. The prize comes with $1 million, which Peter donated to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.Peter is the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on his book of the same name.His writings in this area include the 1972 essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, in which Peter argues for donating to help the global poor, and two books that make the case for effective giving, The Life You Can Save (2009, 2nd edition 2019) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015).Andrew LeighAndrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.His books include Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator (with Joshua Gans) (2019), Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook (with Nick Terrell) (2020), What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics (2021), Fair Game: Lessons From Sport for a Fairer Society and a Stronger Economy (2022) and The Shortest History of Economics (2024).Andrew is a keen Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, and hosts a podcast called The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation, about living a happier, healthier and more ethical life.CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram

In this episode we’re joined by Federal Member for Fenner, the Honorable Dr Andrew Leigh MP, and philosopher and emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University, Peter Singer, to consider if we should value the lives of unborn future generations, more than we value those of us alive today. The consideration of lives unborn sits at the heart of ‘existential risk’. It asks us to take seriously all the future generations who, if humanity gets it right, could end up far far more numerous than every life lived to date. We could in fact, be just at the beginning of our beautiful journey as a species. But we do face a number of very real risks that could literally destroy us all - biowarfare, climate change and AI to name but a few.So, should we spend our limited resources helping the poorest and most in need today, wherever they live? Or should we divert resources to reduce the sorts of risks which, if left unchecked, could prevent countless generations from coming into existence at all?Peter Singer - BioPeter Singer is emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He has a background in philosophy and works mostly in practical ethics. He is best known for Animal Liberation and for his writings about global poverty. In 2021, Peter received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. The prize comes with $1 million, which Peter donated to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.Peter is the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on his book of the same name. His writings in this area include the 1972 essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, in which Peter argues for donating to help the global poor, and two books that make the case for effective giving, The Life You Can Save (2009, 2nd edition 2019) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015).Andrew LeighAndrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.His books include Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator (with Joshua Gans) (2019), Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook (with Nick Terrell) (2020), What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics (2021), Fair Game: Lessons From Sport for a Fairer Society and a Stronger Economy (2022) and The Shortest History of Economics (2024).Andrew is a keen Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, and hosts a podcast called The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation, about living a happier, healthier and more ethical life. CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  

Do you have to have a dream? Or is incrementalism the answer to leading a flourishing life? This week, creative polymath Tim Minchin, joins host Lloyd Vogelman on the couch for an unfiltered conversation that digs into the personal side of the Principle of Charity.Tim MinchinIn addition to two decades of award-winning live performance and multiple recorded specials, Tim is the composer and lyricist of smash-hit stage musicals, Matilda and Groundhog Day.He is also a screenwriter (of the award-winning Upright, in which he stars alongside House of The Dragon’s Milly Alcock), and a screen actor, (Atticus Fetch in Californication, Friar Tuck in Robin Hood 2014, Darius Cracksworth in Disney's The Artful Dodger).He is a public speaker, and a book of his commencement speeches, You Don’t Have to Have a Dream, was recently published by Penguin Random House. Stage roles include his acclaimed Judas in the 2014 UK / Australian Arena Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Rosencrantz in the Sydney Theatre Company’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He is a voice actor, has published two children's books and a graphic novel, and sometimes get into trouble for criticising fundamentalists of all stripes. His 2020 studio album, Apart Together, peaked at #2 on the ARIA charts.Among many accolades, he has won two Olivier Awards for Best Musical, a British Composers Award for Best Score, a Logie for Best Supporting Actor, an ACTAA for best TV comedy performance, an Edinburgh Comedy Award for best Newcomer, a Whats On Stage Award for Best Actor in a Musical, The Richard Dawkins Award for Science Communication, and an Order of Australia for Services to the Arts and the Community. He has been nominated for some Tonys and a Grammy. CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information 

Three years after his first appearance on Principle of Charity, the effervescent Tim Minchin returns for this first, and very special spotlight episode for 2025. Emile, Lloyd and Tim reflect on the principle of charity itself, and how themes explored in Tim’s latest book You Don’t Have To Have a Dream (Penguin Random House)  relate to its application in our lives. What role can the scientific method, kindness and authenticity play in helping us consider the viewpoints of those with whom we most disagree, and lead flourishing lives? Tim MinchinIn addition to two decades of award-winning live performance and multiple recorded specials, Tim is the composer and lyricist of smash-hit stage musicals, Matilda and Groundhog Day.He is also a screenwriter (of the award-winning Upright, in which he stars alongside House of The Dragon’s Milly Alcock), and a screen actor, (Atticus Fetch in Californication, Friar Tuck in Robin Hood 2014, Darius Cracksworth in Disney's The Artful Dodger).He is a public speaker, and a book of his commencement speeches, You Don’t Have to Have a Dream, was recently published by Penguin Random House. Stage roles include his acclaimed Judas in the 2014 UK / Australian Arena Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Rosencrantz in the Sydney Theatre Company’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He is a voice actor, has published two children's books and a graphic novel, and sometimes get into trouble for criticising fundamentalists of all stripes. His 2020 studio album, Apart Together, peaked at #2 on the ARIA charts.Among many accolades, he has won two Olivier Awards for Best Musical, a British Composers Award for Best Score, a Logie for Best Supporting Actor, an ACTAA for best TV comedy performance, an Edinburgh Comedy Award for best Newcomer, a Whats On Stage Award for Best Actor in a Musical, The Richard Dawkins Award for Science Communication, and an Order of Australia for Services to the Arts and the Community. He has been nominated for some Tonys and a Grammy. CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information

This week leading neuroscientist Anil Seth, and spiritual leader and scholar Swami Sarvapriyananda, join host Lloyd Vogelman on the couch for an unfiltered conversation that digs into the personal side of the Principle of Charity. Can the inevitability of human suffering help us understand the existence of the ‘self’?BIOSAnil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness. 2021 saw the publication of his best selling book, Being You - A New Science of Consciousness.Anil was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press),Swami Sarvapriyananda is a Hindu monk belonging to the Ramakrishna Order and the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York. He was in the first group of Hindu swamis to participate as a Nagral Fellow for the year 2019-20 at Harvard Divinity School. He is a well-known speaker on Vedanta teachings and his talks are extremely popular worldwide. CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information 

In this episode, we’re joined by one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, Anil Seth, and Advaita Vedanta spiritual leader and scholar, Swami Sarvapriyananda, to explore ideas around consciousness. When we die, does our consciousness die with us, or is our body just a vehicle, at best, for a consciousness that continues?Most mainstream forms of western knowledge are based on an understanding that nothing exists outside of the physical world which follows the fundamental laws of physics. It posits that whatever we seek to understand, we need to do so using the tools of material reality.  It seems however, that this largely shared assumption around the nature of reality falls apart for many of us when we think about what happens after death. By far the majority of people living on this planet believe in a consciousness, or a related term like ‘soul’, that exists separate to our material body and can therefore continue after death. This belief is of course the basic building block of pretty much all religions - and all these beliefs share an assumption that there’s a realm of disembodied mind, or spirit, which can continue after our body dies. In philosophy of mind, this belief is called ‘dualism’.  But for most hard-nosed scientists and philosophers, there’s something deeply problematic about dualism, of this separating out of conscious experience from the material world. Everything else can be explained using the tools of material reality. Why not consciousness?BIOSAnil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. He is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness. 2021 saw the publication of his best selling book, Being You - A New Science of Consciousness.Anil was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press), a role he served from 2014-2024. Swami Sarvapriyananda is a Hindu monk belonging to the Ramakrishna Order and the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York. He was in the first group of Hindu swamis to participate as a Nagral Fellow for the year 2019-20 at Harvard Divinity School. He is a well-known speaker on Vedanta teachings and his talks are extremely popular worldwide. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information 

This week economist Gene Tunny and activist-scholar Anitra Nelson join host Lloyd Vogelman on the couch for an unfiltered conversation that digs into the personal side of the Principle of Charity. Can two diametrically opposed thinkers meet in the middle when it’s planetary survival that’s at stake? BIOSGene Tunny is the Founder and Director of Adept Economics and the current President of the Queensland branch of the Economic Society of Australia. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in economics at Griffith University and an Adjunct Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS). He hosts the Economics Explored podcast. Gene is a former Treasury official who led teams in the Treasury’s budget and industry policy divisions.  Associate Professor Anitra Nelson is an activist-scholar with the Informal Urbanism Research Hub (InfUr-) at University of Melbourne. Her books include Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy (2022) and Small is Necessary: Shared Living on a Shared Planet (2018). She is co-author of Exploring Degrowth (2020) and co-editor of Post-Carbon Inclusion (2024), Housing for Degrowth: Principles, Models, Challenges and Opportunities (2018) and Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices (2021). Anitra is on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the joint International Society for Ecological Economics–Degrowth Conference, to be held 24-27 June 2025, in Oslo (Norway) and holds a PhD from LaTrobe University (Australia). See more – https://anitranelson.info/CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information 

In this episode we’re joined by economist Gene Tunny and activist-scholar Anitra Nelson to ask whether degrowth can save the planet, or if we should stay the current economic course.   As recently as 150 years ago, pretty much everyone was living in what we’d now call extreme poverty. Thanks to capitalism, that rate is now just 9%, with a reduction of 38% in the last 30 years alone.  So what’s the problem? Well, for one thing, we’ve been plundering the natural world to fuel our growth, with little regard for its limitations. And it’s come back to bite us. A regular economist might say – no problem. Let’s just price in the cost of climate pollution, and natural capital, recognising that we’ll need governments to take the lead. But there’s a growing challenge to market-centrism from a number of movements who share a belief that a bit more government regulation is not going to get to the root of the problem; our erroneous assumption that the natural world is limitless.Degrowth argues that we can’t save the planet, or end the systemic ills of capitalism like inequality, using the tools that created the problem in the first place. That our addiction to growth needs to be cut at its roots. It argues for a paradigm shift which sees wellbeing decoupled from economic growth. It envisages a different way of being, of caring and relating to each other, of flourishing itself, that’s in harmony with our more noble instincts, unperverted by our current system of exploitation. BIOSGene Tunny is the Founder and Director of Adept Economics and the current President of the Queensland branch of the Economic Society of Australia. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in economics at Griffith University and an Adjunct Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS). He hosts the Economics Explored podcast. Gene is a former Treasury official who led teams in the Treasury’s budget and industry policy divisions.  Associate Professor Anitra Nelson is an activist-scholar with the Informal Urbanism Research Hub (InfUr-) at University of Melbourne. Her books include Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy (2022) and Small is Necessary: Shared Living on a Shared Planet (2018). She is co-author of Exploring Degrowth (2020) and co-editor of Post-Carbon Inclusion (2024), Housing for Degrowth: Principles, Models, Challenges and Opportunities (2018) and Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices (2021). Anitra is on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the joint International Society for Ecological Economics–Degrowth Conference, to be held 24-27 June 2025, in Oslo (Norway) and holds a PhD from LaTrobe University (Australia). See more – https://anitranelson.info/CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information