Shows / Very Bad Wizards
Very Bad Wizards
Very Bad Wizards is a podcast featuring a philosopher (Tamler Sommers) and a psychologist (David Pizarro), who share a love for ethics, pop culture, and cognitive science, and who have a marked inability to distinguish sacred from profane. Each podcast includes discussions of moral philosophy, recent work on moral psychology and neuroscience, and the overlap between the two.
Episodes
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 61: Putting a Little Meaning in Your Life
Dave 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…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 60: Drunk on Intuitions
Dave and Tamler argue some more about the role of emotion and intuition in blame judgments, and then offer some moral psychology-related recommendations for…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 59: Tumors All the Way Down (With Sam Harris)
Bestselling author and friend of the podcast Sam Harris joins Tamler and Dave for a marathon podcast. (Seriously, pack two pairs of astronaut diapers for this…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 58: Do the Right Thing (with Yoel Inbar)
Film critic, VBW regular, and social psychologist Yoel Inbar joins David and Tamler to talk about Spike Lee's controversial 1989 film, Do the Right Thing, a…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 57: Free Willie
David and Tamler talk about a new study that links your belief in free will to the fullness of your bladder. How do our bodily states influence our…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 56: Moral Heroes and Drunk Utilitarians
Following up their discussion of moral villains, Dave and Tamler argue about what makes a moral hero. Tamler defends Sharon Krause's view that honor values can…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 55: Rooting for Evil (With Paul Bloom)
Paul Bloom joins us to talk all things villainous -why we sometimes root for the bad guys, why we admire them even when we don't, why they are much more…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 54: Pooping on Ecstasy (Pain, Pleasure, and the Ethics of Breeding)
Tamler and David get bullied into talking about "anti-natalism," (the view that it is unethical to bring a being into existence), and to defend our ethical…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 53: The Psychology People Love to Hate (Evolutionary Psychology Pt.1)
Dave and Tamler take a shot at answering the question: what is an evolutionary psychologist? Is it just a psychologist who believes in evolution? (No.) Is it a…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 52: Thought Experiments (Huh!) What Are They Good For? (Part 2)
Experience Machines, Chinese Rooms, Original Positions, and Ice Buckets. ("I don't know what you have in mind for this evening Homer, but count me out!") Dave…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 51: Zombies, Trolleys, and Galileo's Balls
Episode Audio Dave and Tamler talk about the value and purposes of thought experiments in philosophy and science. Does the trolley problem tell us more about…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 50: Keeping it Unreal
Dude, do you ever think about how, like, we could be all be in the Matrix? Seriously, no no, dude, I'm being serious. It's like, none of this might be real…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 49: Psychopaths and Contrastivizzzzzzzz (With Walter Sinnott-Armstrong)
Special guest Walter Sinnott-Armstrong joins the podcast to explain how his theory which desperately needs a new name ("contrastivism") can dissolve most of…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 48: Restorative Circle Jerk
Dave and Tamler take a mulligan and try to resolve their conflict about restorative justice. Do restorative processes lead to more just outcomes than other…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 47: Schooled By Our Listeners
Tamler and David leech off of their listeners and dedicate an episode to their favorite comments, questions, and criticisms from the past few weeks (but not…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 46: The Real Josh Knobe
May I have your attention please? Will the real Josh Knobe please stand up? Will the real... [you know what, screw this--we're just dating ourselves.] X-phi…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 45: Rounded Brains and Balanced "Play Diets"
A British tabloid article about kids, brains, and spatial skills somehow provokes the biggest argument ever on the podcast. Dave and Tamler get into it about…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 44: Killer Robots
David and Tamler argue about the use of autonomous robots and drones in warfare. Could it lead to less suffering during wars and afterwards? Would nations be…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 43: The Nature of Nudges
Dave and Tamler talk about a recent study that seems to support the view that "justice is what the judge had for breakfast" (or at least how long ago the…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 42: Reason, Responsibility, and Roombas (With Paul Bloom)
Can a fully determined creature deliberate? How big a role does conscious reasoning play in moral judgment and everyday life? Are we responsible for our…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 41: Moral Dilemmas at the Movies
Dave keeps trying to explain to Tamler that we're not a movie podcast, but somehow they're doing another podcast about movies. This time they each list their…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 40: How Many Moralities Are There? Pt. 2 (with Jesse Graham)
Jesse Graham joins us for part 2 of our discussion on the nature of morality, and his recent paper on Moral Foundations Theory. He highlights the key…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 39: How Many Moralities Are There? (Pt.1)
Dave and Tamler bounce back this week after having to trash the last episode. Does morality ultimately boil down to a single principle (such as harm or…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 38: The Greatest Movies Ever Made about Personal Identity
Who is the real you? What happens to your identity when your body gets cloned or reconstituted with all the same memories and character traits? Does society…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 37: Porn, Poop, and Personal Identity (with Nina Strohminger)
The guest we've been waiting for--Nina Strohminger--joins us to talk about the connection between disgust and humor, cheap laughs, moral character and personal…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 36: An Irresponsible Meta-Book Review of Joshua Greene's "Moral Tribes"
Our 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…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 35: Douchebags and Desert
Dave and Tamler talk about the influence of character judgments on attributions of blame. What is the function of the blame--to assign responsibility or to…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 34: Does Reading Harry Potter Make You Moral? (with Will Wilkinson)
Special guest Will Wilkinson joins the podcast to talk about whether fiction makes us better people, and to discuss his recent Daily Beast article that trashed…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 33: Monkeys, Smurfs, and Human Conformity (With Laurie Santos)
Special guest Laurie Santos (Psychology, Yale) joins us to talk about what animal cognition can tell us about human nature. Why are other primates better at…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 32: Disagreeing About Disagreement
Part II of our discussion on Rai and Fiske (sort of): We answer a listener's email and in the process get into an episode long argument about moral intuitions…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 31: An Anthropologist's Guide to Moral Psychology (Pt. 1)
In the first of a two-part episode, we discuss one of our favorite recent papers--Tage Rai and Alan Page Fiske's 2011 paper on how social relationships shape…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 30: The Greatest Books Ever Written
Dave and Tamler celebrate their one year anniversary and 30th episode with one of their least cynical episodes yet. They talk about 5…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 29: PEDs, Tenure Pills, and "Hyberbolic Chambers"
Dave and Tamler try to artificially bulk up their expertise on the ethics of performance enhancing drugs and end up raising a lot more questions than they…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 28: Moral Persuasion
Dave and Tamler try their best to do a show without guests--we talk about moral persuasion, motivated reasoning, and whether it's legitimate to use emotionally…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 27: You, Your Self, and Your Brain (With Eddy Nahmias)
Our streak of very special guests continues! Philosopher Eddy Nahmias joins the podcast to us why people mistakenly think they're not morally responsible, and…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 26: Evolution and Sexual Perversion (with Jesse Bering)
Psychologist and author Jesse Bering joins us to talk about evolutionary psychology and his forthcoming book Perv. In the relatively uncontroversial part of…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 25: Burning Armchairs (with Joshua Knobe)
Josh Knobe, the Michael Corleone of experimental philosophy, joins us to talk about taking philosophy into the lab and the streets. We discuss how people…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 24: The Perils of Empathy (with Paul Bloom)
Paul Bloom joins us in the second segment for a lively discussion about the value of empathy as a guide our moral decisions. And in our first scoop, we talk…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 23: Straw Dogs (with Yoel Inbar)
Dave, Tamler, and special guest Yoel Inbar break down Sam Peckinpah's brilliant (at least according to one of us) 1971 film Straw Dogs. They talk about the…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 22: An Enquiry Concerning Slurs and Offensiveness
In what might very well be the last episode before we're pulled off the air, Tamler outlines his data-free "theory" of what makes something offensive. What…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 21: Grad School
Dave and Tamler shrug off inside baseball concerns and argue whether to go to grad school, what to do when you get there, and share horror stories about the…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 20: Boston, Brains, and Bad Pronunciation (with Molly Crockett)
Dave and Tamler begin with a brief, heartfelt discussion about the Boston Bombings. Tamler talks about why Patriots' Day and the Boston Marathon mean so much…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 19: The Burning Bridges Episode (Pt. 2)
Re-recording a not-so-tragically lost episode (it kinda sucked), Dave and Tamler talk about the things they hate most about philosophy and psychology. But…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 18: "Boy If Life Were Only Like This" (With Joe Henrich)
Joe Henrich joins the podcast to tell us that we know nothing about his work and that how we got to teach a class in anything is absolutely amazing. We…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 17: Learning about Bushmen by Studying Freshmen?
Thousands of studies in psychology rely on data from North American undergraduates. Can we really conclude anything about the "human" mind from such a limited…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 16: Race, Reparations, and American (In)Justice (with Damani McDole)
For those who thought our most uncomfortable topics were behind us, on this episode we are joined by David's childhood friend Damani McDole [facebook.com] to…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 15: The Burning Bridges Episode (Pt. 1)
You 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…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 14: Bonus Episode on Snitches, Tattletales, and Whistleblowers
In a break from tradition, we recorded a 25-minute episode on the morality of tattletaling, snitching, ratting, and whistleblowing. We discuss why these people…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 13: Beanballs, Blood Feuds, and Collective Moral Responsibility (With Fiery Cushman)
Our classiest episode yet (OK, that's not saying much, but still...)--Psychologist Fiery Cushman joins us for a discussion about collective punishment and…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 12: Justice for #!$@ ?
Dave and Tamler square off the role of the victim in criminal punishment and find little to agree about. Tamler defends the restorative justice approach, while…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 11: It is Morally Wrong to Kill Morgan Freeman (with Yoel Inbar)
Social psychologist Yoel Inbar joins Tamler and David to discuss Clint Eastwood's masterpiece of the Western genre, "Unforgiven." The discussion includes the…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 10: Religion, Meaning, and Morality
Does 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…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 9: Social Psychology, Situationism, and Moral Character
After discussing some listener feedback about the movie Swingers, Tamler and David talk about two classic experiments in social psychology: the Milgram…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 8: Dishonesty, Character, and Dan Ariely
In a Very Special Episode of Very Bad Wizards, Dan Ariely joins David to chat about cheating, character, teling your significant other about kissing someone at…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 7: Psychopaths and Utilitarians Pt. 2 (Now with more poo poo)
After a clip from The Third Man, Dave and Tamler continue their discussion from Episode 6 on Ted Bundy, utilitarians, and trolley problems. They also talk…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 6: Trolleys, Utilitarians, and Psychopaths (Part 1)
Tamler contemplates ending it all because he can't get 'Call Me Maybe' out of his head, and Dave doesn't try to talk him out of it. This is followed by a…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 5: Revenge, Pt. 2: The Revenge
Dave and Tamler continue their discussion about their favorite topic. They talk about the evolutionary origins of retributive behavior, cross-cultural…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 4: Revenge, Pt. 1
Dave allows Tamler to rant about Sam Harris's strawman attacks on moral relativism before launching into discussion about revenge, justice, True Grit, and…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 3: "We believe in nothing!" (Cultural diversity, relativism, and moral truth)
Tamler and Dave discuss recent work in philosophy and psychology about the differences in moral values and practices across cultures. We talk about the…
- Very Bad Wizards
Episode 2: The "Dangerous Truth" about Free Will (Free Will and Morality, Pt. 2)
Tamler and David discuss whether giving up our belief in free will makes us more likely to abandon our moral standards. Links "You Can't Handle the Truth!"…