Very Bad Wizards
a philosopher and a psychologist ponder human morality
We found 4 episodes of Very Bad Wizards with the tag “thomas nagel”.
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Episode 133: Death and Dreams
February 6th, 2018 | 1 hr 15 mins
death, it was all a dream, thomas nagel
David 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 for the thirteen billion years before we were born, why fear it now?
Plus, a discussion about the "it was all a dream" trope in TV and film. Why is it so infuriating in some works but not others?
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Episode 128: Fragmented Values and Sex Panics (with Christina Hoff Sommers)
November 28th, 2017 | 1 hr 50 mins
christina hoff sommers, louis ck, thomas nagel, value
David 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 multiple sources of value that can't be reduced or systematically ordered? Does this make all of our moral decisions arbitrary? Plus, we talk about Louis CK and in a Thanksgiving tradition special guest Christina Hoff Sommers rejoins the podcast in a moderately drunken debate with Tamler about a possible sex panic.
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Episode 127: Moral Luck
November 14th, 2017 | 1 hr 24 mins
blame, free will, moral luck, moral responsibility, mortal questions, thomas nagel
David 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 people for things that are beyond their control (when we have strong intuitions that uncontrollable acts don't deserve blame)? Does moral luck ultimately swallow all of our behavior? Can we truly embrace the view that "actions are events and people are things" or are we stuck with another unsolvable clash of competing perspectives (just like the problem of absurdity)?
Plus, Dave exposes himself on the Partially Examined Life, Tamler self-censors, and somehow we discuss Hollywood harassment and stand-up comedy without mentioning Louis CK. (But only because we recorded this episode about five hours before the NY Times story broke.)
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Episode 126: The Absurd
October 24th, 2017 | 1 hr 32 mins
albert camus, rick and morty, the absurd, the meaning of life, thomas nagel
Is life meaningless? Are we 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 David discuss Thomas Nagel’s essay on the sense of meaninglessness and absurdity that can so easily creep into human existence (with a special emphasis on the work of Camus and the philosophy of Rick and Morty). But first we tackle even more important questions about the human condition such as, why is it easier to detect the size of a hole with your tongue than with your little finger? And which moral "dilemmas" are actually moral no-brainers? (In the process, we even solve the problem of free speech on campus. You’re welcome.)