Everytime Thomas Nagel was mentioned in Very Bad Wizards
Everytime Thomas Nagel was mentioned in Very Bad Wizards
Episode 140: Milgram's Mice
Very Bad WizardsHonor shmonor, David and Tamler return to their repugnant roots for this one. First, we pay an overdue homage to the great anonymous blogger and twitter-redeemer Neuroskeptic. We pick a few of our favo
May 22, 2018·1h 33m·0(-)Episode 229: Skin Deep?
Very Bad WizardsWe think racism is wrong but what about “lookism” – a bias that favors attractive people over unattractive ones? If it’s wrong to judge people by the color of their skin, what about judging peo
Jan 25, 2022·1h 39m·0(-)Episode 243: Finding My Religion
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler continue their discussion of Leo Tolstoy’s 'Confession.' When we left him last time, the famous author had bottomed out just years after writing two of the greatest novels ever writt
Aug 16, 2022·1h 32m·5.0(1)Episode 175: At Least We Didn’t Talk About Zombies (Nagel’s “What is it Like to be a Bat?”)
Very Bad WizardsWe try (with varying success) to wrap our heads around Thomas Nagel’s classic article “What is it Like to be a Bat?" Does science have the tools to give us a theory of consciousness or is that proj
Oct 29, 2019·1h 42m·0(-)Episode 127: Moral Luck
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler dip back into the Thomas Nagel well, and discuss the problem of "moral luck." Why do we blame drunk drivers who hit someone more than drunk drivers who make it home OK? Why do we judge
Nov 14, 2017·1h 24m·0(-)Episode 128: Fragmented Values and Sex Panics (with Christina Hoff Sommers)
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler keep their Nagel streak alive, discussing the essay "The Fragmention of Value" from his collection "Mortal Questions." How should we address our fragmented moral landscape, with multip
Nov 28, 2017·1h 50m·0(-)Episode 126: The Absurd
Very Bad WizardsIs life meaningless? Are humans just glorified dung beetles, pushing around our piles of poop with no greater purpose? What would it take for life to actually be meaningful? In this episode, Tamler and
Oct 24, 2017·1h 32m·0(-)Episode 133: Death and Dreams
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler talk about the nature of death. Is being dead a bad thing? If so, what makes it bad? How can anything be bad for a subject that no longer exists? We didn't have a problem with oblivion
Feb 6, 2018·1h 15m·0(-)Episode 152: Ruthlessness, Public and Private
Very Bad WizardsTamler and David continue their Nagel-gazing by discussing another essay from Mortal Questions : "Ruthlessness in Public Life." Why do we treat the immorality of politicians, military leaders, and othe
Nov 20, 2018·1h 21m·0(-)Episode 36: An Irresponsible Meta-Book Review of Joshua Greene's "Moral Tribes"
Very Bad WizardsOur most irresponsible episode ever! Dave and Tamler talk about two reviews of a book they haven't read--Joshua Greene's Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them --and feel only a
Nov 25, 2013·0h 55m·0(-)Episode 115: Which Field is More Fu@%ed: Philosophy or Psychology?
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler go ambulance chasing for scandals in their own fields. Inspired by a tweet from Jay Van Bavel, they argue about which of their disciplines--philosophy or psychology--is more completely
May 16, 2017·1h 37m·0(-)Episode 249: Phlegm and Carelessness (Hume's "The Sceptic")
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler gild and stain David Hume’s essay “The Sceptic†with their sentiments. If nothing is inherently valuable or despicable, desirable or hateful, then what do philosophers
Nov 22, 2022·1h 25m·5.0(1)Episode 122: Nothing but a "G" Thing (Intelligence Pt. 1)
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler do their best to talk frankly about intelligence and IQ research. (It's our Patreon listener-selected topic! We probably would never have chosen this one on our own...). Is intelligenc
Aug 29, 2017·1h 40m·0(-)Episode 61: Putting a Little Meaning in Your Life
Very Bad WizardsDave and Tamler take a break from blame and responsibility to tackle a much easier subject: meaning in life. We discuss Susan Wolf's new book "Meaning in Life and Why it Matters," and play some excerpt
Jan 19, 2015·1h 15m·0(-)Episode 100: It's a Celebration
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler have their 100th episode hijacked briefly before taking it back like Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57. To celebrate the milestone Tamler pops some champagne, Dave sips his high priced Ivy
Oct 13, 2016·1h 38m·0(-)Episode 217: Dropping Paradigms (Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions")
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler hit the books and cram for their beloved Patreon listener-selected episode – this time on Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” David thinks Kuhn is a great
Jul 20, 2021·2h 6m·0(-)Episode 160: Everything is Meaningless: The Book of Ecclesiastes
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler dive into the book of Ecclesiastes, an absurdist classic that is somehow also a book of the Bible. Is everything meaningless, vain, and a chasing after the wind? Are humans just the sa
Mar 19, 2019·1h 33m·0(-)Episode 30: The Greatest Books Ever Written
Very Bad WizardsDave and Tamler celebrate their one year anniversary and 30th episode with one of their least cynical episodes yet. They talk about 5 philosophy/psychology(-ish) books that influenced and inspired them
Sep 2, 2013·1h 11m·0(-)Episode 170: Social Psychology Gets an Asch-Kicking
Very Bad WizardsIs social psychology just a kid dressing up in grown-up science clothes? Are the methods in social psychology--hypothesis-driven experiments and model-building--appropriate for the state of the field?
Aug 13, 2019·1h 49m·0(-)Episode 247: Open the Pod, Dave (with Sam Harris)
Very Bad WizardsWe welcome Sam Harris back to the show for a deep dive into Stanley Kubrick’s confounding 1968 masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey." How long is the Dawn of Man? What does the second monolith do exact
Oct 18, 2022·2h 34m·5.0(1)Episode 144: Borges' Babylon
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler try to wrap their heads around Jorge Luis Borges' “The Library of Babel†– a short story about a universe/library that contains every possible book with every possible
Jul 24, 2018·1h 23m·0(-)Episode 137: Are Buddhists Afraid to Die? (with Shaun Nichols)
Very Bad WizardsWhy are we always attracted to people who mock us, resist our advances, and play hard to get? Maybe because it’s extra satisfying when you finally get them to… appear on your podcast. In our first
Apr 10, 2018·1h 19m·0(-)Episode 242: Losing My Religion
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler find themselves unable to attach rational meaning to a single act in their entire lives. Let’s say we publish more articles and books. What then? What about our kids? They’re going
Aug 2, 2022·1h 33m·5.0(1)Episode 222: Choosing Sartre for All Mankind
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler don black turtlenecks and light up a couple of Gauloises to talk about Jean Paul Sartre's classic essay “Existentialism is a Humanism.” Why are choices so fundamental to our experi
Oct 5, 2021·1h 37m·0(-)Episode 277: The Merits of Buggery (Nagel's "Sexual Perversion")
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler play the old hits – Thomas Nagel and sex robots. In the main segment we talk about Nagel’s essay “Sexual Perversion”, a surprising essay on many fronts (Sartre, erotic fiction,
Jan 30, 2024·1h 35m·5.0(4)Episode 10: Religion, Meaning, and Morality
Very Bad WizardsDoes life have meaning if there is no God? Why should I be a good person if there's no reward or punishment waiting for me in the afterlife? Why does religion seem to make people happier and healthier?
Dec 11, 2012·0h 58m·0(-)Episode 214: You Shouldn't Feel Bad (Except You Should)
Very Bad WizardsTamler welcomes social psychologist David Pizarro of Cornell University to the podcast to talk about his recent article (along with Raj Anderson, Shaun Nichols, and Rachana Kamtekar) on “false-positi
Jun 8, 2021·1h 20m·5.0(1)Episode 176: Split-Brains and the (Dis)Unity of Consciousness
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler discuss famous 'split brain' experiments pioneered by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga. What happens when you cut off the main line of communication between the left and right hemisp
Nov 12, 2019·1h 48m·0(-)Episode 130: Dehumanization and Disintegration (with Paul Bloom)
Very Bad WizardsIn this Very Special Boxing Day edition of the podcast, Tamler and David welcome back honorary Third Wizard Paul Bloom to discuss his latest article in the New Yorker about dehumanization and cruelty.
Dec 26, 2017·1h 32m·0(-)Episode 65: Philocalypse Now
Very Bad WizardsHoly crap, it's the apocalypse!!!! ...for philosophy. Maybe. Has this 2500 year old discipline become too technical, too disconnected from the real world? Is it just a handmaiden to the sciences? (Whic
Apr 6, 2015·1h 19m·0(-)Episode 15: The Burning Bridges Episode (Pt. 1)
Very Bad WizardsYou don't need to be a psychologist or a philosopher to enjoy a good, old-fashioned bitch-fest. In the first of a two-part episode (no single compact disc, 8-track, or LP could hold all our complaints)
Feb 16, 2013·0h 53m·0(-)Episode 226: Unraveling Time Traveling (with Barry Lam and Christina Hoff Sommers)
Very Bad WizardsFirst, it’s the return of the annual drunken Thanksgiving segment! Tamler and based wicked stepmom Christina Hoff Sommers fight about JFK, systematic racism, corporations, and how to pronounce valium
Dec 7, 2021·1h 56m·0(-)Episode 258: Mystic Peeza
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler talk about William James’ chapter on mysticism from his book "Varieties of Religious Experience." What defines a mystical experience? Why do they defy expression and yet feel like a
Apr 11, 2023·1h 33m·5.0(1)Episode 173: Talking to Your (Alternate) Self [Ted Chiang's "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom"]
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler dive back into the Ted Chiang well and explore the fascinating world described in "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom." What if you could interact with alternate versions of yourself
Oct 1, 2019·1h 40m·0(-)Episode 244: Thanks for the Memories? (Borges' "Funes the Memorious)
Very Bad WizardsDavid and Tamler return to Borges land to get lost in the infinite, this time with his legendary and tragic character Funes the memorious. What would it be like to have perfect memory, to have full acc
Sep 6, 2022·1h 51m·5.0(1)Episode 271: Concept-Con 2023
Very Bad WizardsIt’s the first annual “Concept-Con” – a not at all cringe episode where David and Tamler apply the methods and rigor of analytic philosophy to dissect not one, not two, but four new concepts. W
Nov 13, 2023·0h 58m·4.3(4)