Very Bad Wizards

Episode 112: Gettier Goggles

April 4th, 2017  |  1 hr 31 mins

epistemology, gettier cases, monogamy, skepticism

For four years Tamler has been bitching about Gettier cases without even explaining what they are or why he hates them. That ends today. David and Tamler talk about the famous paper that challenged the (widespread? non-existent?) notion that knowledge is, and only is, justified true belief. We talk about the so-called skeptics about knowledge that Gettier inspired, then discuss the real skepticism that Descartes examined with his evil demon thought experiment. Plus, you know how you're in a monogamous relationship because of science? Well, turns out that science may be flawed....

Episode 111: Our Language Doesn't Have a Word For This Title (with Yoel Inbar)

March 22nd, 2017  |  1 hr 3 mins

In Part 2 of our episode with film scholar Yoel Inbar (AOS: Quebecois New Wave Cinema), we break down the philosophy and psychology of the movie Arrival.

Episode 110: Stepsisters and Neck Braces (with Yoel Inbar)

March 14th, 2017  |  41 mins 50 secs

Special guest Yoel Inbar joins Tamler and David to discuss the Charles Murray protest at Middlebury College (and the top porn searches by State).

Episode 109: Moral Pluralism: Behind the Lube

February 28th, 2017  |  1 hr 11 mins

Tamler and Dave discuss moral pluralism.

Episode 108: The Gimp Exception

February 7th, 2017  |  1 hr 14 mins

Tamler and David discuss moral hypocrisy.

Episode 107: Winking Under Oppression (with Manuel Vargas)

January 24th, 2017  |  1 hr 21 mins

Philosopher Manuel Vargas joins us to talk about moral responsibility under oppression.

Episode 106: American Grandstand

January 10th, 2017  |  1 hr 17 mins

edge.org, moral grandstanding

David and Tamler take a break from moral grandstanding to talk about moral grandstanding, focusing on a recent paper by philosophers Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke.

Episode 105: Wizards With (Reactive) Attitudes

December 28th, 2016  |  1 hr 23 mins

Tamler and David discuss the increasingly trollish nature of Aeon Magazine articles, then discuss (and argue about) philosopher Victoria McGeer's 2012 article "Co-reactive attitudes and the making of moral community."

Episode 104: Smelling Salts for Morality: Our Top 3 Movies About Empathy (with Paul Bloom)

December 13th, 2016  |  1 hr 33 mins

empathy, movies, paul bloom

Paul Bloom joins Tamler and David to discuss their picks for the top three movies about empathy.

Episode 103: Very Bad Utopias

November 29th, 2016  |  1 hr 7 mins

David and Tamler give thanks to their listeners and Patreon supporters with an episode chosen by our top Patreon subscribers--the drafting of a "constitution" for our very own Utopia.

Episode 102: Red, Black, and Blue

November 15th, 2016  |  1 hr 37 mins

Tamler and David talk about the 2016 US presidential election, and more serious things like Black Mirror's "San Junipero" episode.

Episode 101: Having Desert and Eating It Too

October 31st, 2016  |  1 hr 28 mins

David and Tamler argue over how much we can learn about moral responsibility from the way we attribute blame and praise in the domains of art and sports.

Episode 100: It's a Celebration

October 13th, 2016  |  1 hr 38 mins

David and Tamler celebrate their 100th episode with champagne, bourbon, an online test of our moral judgments, and an AMA.

Episode 99: Mockingbirds, Destructo-Critics, and Mr. Robot

September 27th, 2016  |  2 hrs 3 mins

David and Tamler tackle claims of decepto-criticism in psychology, discuss the dilemmas of 7th grade theater production, and have a lengthy discussion of Mr. Robot Season 2.

Episode 98: Mind the Gap

September 13th, 2016  |  1 hr 22 mins

David and Tamler tackle the naturalistic fallacy.

Episode 97: Dogmatic Slumber Party

August 30th, 2016  |  1 hr 23 mins

David and Tamler take on motivated reasoning and our biased processing of information to favor positions we are predisposed to believe.