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 metaphysical commitments? What's the best way to measure beliefs about free will? Can you get your prostate checked without having someone stick something in your private areas? Plus, an exclusive look at the shocking truth about social psychology experiments.  

Links

• The Philosophical Implications of the Urge to Urinate by Dan Ladkin, Scientific American 
• Ent, M. R., & Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Embodied free will beliefs: Some effects of physical states on metaphysical opinions. Consciousness and Cognition, 27, 147-154.
• Free Will and Determinism Scale (Rakos, Laurene, Skala, & Slane, 2008, Behavior and Social Issues). 

 

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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 motivate heroic behavior. Dave accuses Tamler of being inconsistent (nothing wrong with that) and slightly Kantian (NOOOOOO!!!). In the final segment, we’re back on the same page fawning over Susan Wolf’s paper “Moral Saints.” Plus, are drunks more likely to be utilitarians? And why does Dave hate Temple Grandin?

Links

• The Cold Logic of Drunk People by Emma Green [theatlantic.com]
• Duke, A. A., & Bègue, L. (2015). The drunk utilitarian: Blood alcohol concentration predicts utilitarian responses in moral dilemmas. Cognition, 134, 121-127. [sciencedirect.com]
• Wolf, S. (1982). Moral saints. The Journal of Philosophy, 419-439. [verybadwizards.com]
• Krause, S. R. (2002).  Honor and democratic reform (Ch. 5) [verybadwizards.com]. In Liberalism with honor [amazon.com affiliate link]. Harvard University Press.

 

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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 compelling than some of our heroes.  Then more evidence that we're really a movie podcast at heart: we list our top 5 villains and antiheroes from TV and film.  Plus, more on the benefits of religious rituals and how to make a sitcom about Himmler.    

Our Top 5 Villains

Paul Bloom 

1. Todd Alquist (Breaking Bad)

2. Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

3. The Joker (The Dark Knight)

4. Bridgette Gregory (The Last Seduction)

5. Agent Smith (The Matrix)

Tamler Sommers

1. Daniel Plainview (There Will be Blood)/Tony Montana (Scarface)

2. Willie (Bad Santa)

3. Tommy  (Goodfellas)

4. Alonzo Harris (Training Day)

5. Go-Go (Kill Bill Vol. 1) 

David Pizarro

1. Tom (Tom & Jerry)

2. Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)

3. Vic Mackey (The Shield)

4. Harry Lime (The Third Man)

5. Hal 9000 (2001 A Space Odyssey)

Clips: 

"You need people like me.  The bad guy." 

"I'm sorry Dave.  I'm afraid I can't do that." From 2001: A Space Odyssey [youtube]

"Come on Mr Ed.  Let's see it." From The Last Seduction [youtube]

"A good narcotics agents loves his narcotics." From Training Day.  [youtube]

"I loved a woman who wasn't clean."  "Mrs. Santa?"  "No, her sister."  From Bad Santa [youtube]

"He showed these men of will what will really was." From The Usual Suspects. [youtube]

"Funny how?" From Goodfellas [youtube]

Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

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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 position as "breeders." Well, one of us defends it, at least. The other one? Well, you'll have to judge for yourself... Along the way we discuss how much pleasure you would need to equal the pain and suffering you've experienced, the joy of pooping (especially while on E), and Tamler explains why he calls David a Kantian, and why he thinks it's such an insult. For those who have missed the arguing, it's back on this one. 

Links

• Anti-Natalism [wikipedia.org]
• Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 [usccb.org]: And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive. And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun. 
• "No Life is Good" David Benatar.  [Philosopher's Magazine]
• Don't Have Any Children, by David Benatar [moreintelligentlife.com]
• David Benatar Radio Interview (MP3) on 702.co.za
• Every Conceivable Harm: A Further Defence of Anti-Natalism by David Benatar [squarespace.com]
• Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of general psychology, 5(4), 323. [Thanks to listener Brian Erb]

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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 psychologist who embraces a computational, modular theory of the mind? (No. Well, maybe…we’re not sure.) Are they psychologists who are part of a cult that fanatically endorse evolutionary explanations for every aspect of human judgment and behavior? (No! Well, most of them aren’t, anyway.) So what are they? And why do they generate so much hostility?

Plus, we go back to Genesis (the real story of how we evolved) to offer another thought experiment: what is it like to be Adam and Eve before eating the forbidden fruit? What is it like not to know good and evil? And we give our aspiring playwright listeners a perfect idea for a one-act play: Abraham and Isaac walking down the mountain after the aborted sacrifice.

Links

• The Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil [wikipedia.org]
• The Leviathan [wikipedia.org]
• E.O. Wilson [wikipedia.org]
• Sociobiology [wikipedia.org]
• Burke, D. (2014). Why isn't everyone an evolutionary psychologist? Evolutionary Psychology and Neuroscience, 5, 910.
• Making birds gay with science!: Adkins-Regan, E. (2011). Neuroendocrine contributions to sexual partner preference in birds. Frontiers in neuroendocrinology, 32(2), 155-163.
• Just-so stories [wikipedia.org]
• Waist-hip ratio [wikipedia.org]
• "A natural history of rape: Biological bases of sexual coercion" by Thornhill and Palmer [wikipedia.org]
• Buss, D. M., Larsen, R. J., Westen, D., & Semmelroth, J. (1992). Sex differences in jealousy: Evolution, physiology, and psychology. Psychological science, 3, 251-255.
• Satoshi Kanazawa [wikipedia.org]

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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 and Tamler continue their discussion on thought experiments--how they can be effective, the difference between their use in philosophy and psychology, and how they can spin out of control like deadly viruses and become the disease they were trying to cure. Plus, do our motives matter when it comes to raising money for charity? 

Links

• Chinese Room thought experiment [wikipedia.org]

• Turing Test [wikipedia.org]

• Ice bucket challenge [alsa.org]

• Weird Al Yankovic does the Ice Bucket Challenge [youtube.com]

• Flight of the Conchords "Pro-Aids" [youtube.com]

• Rawls' Original Position [plato.stanford.edu]

• The Veil of Ignorance [wikipedia.org]

• Press Your Luck "No Whammies!" [youtube.com]

• Behaviorism [wikipedia.org]

• Logical positivism [wikipedia.org]

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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 moral psychology than how people make judgments in trolley problems? Can an imagined scenario about two balls refute an almost two thousand year old theory of falling objects?  When young virgin Dave learned all the physical facts about sex, did he learn anything new when it finally happened?  All this and more in Part One of our two part episode on this topic.

Links

• The experience machine [wikipedia.org]

• Mary the color scientist [wikipedia.org]

• Zombies [wikipedia.org]

• Qualia [wikipedia.org]

• The Violinist from "A defense of Abortion" [wikipedia.org]

• The Ship of Theseus [wikipedia.org]

• Newcomb's Paradox [wikipedia.org]

• Ring of Gyges [wikipedia.org]

• Peter Singer's thought experiment [wikipedia.org]

• Veil of Ignorance [wikipedia.org]

• Galileo's Balls [philosophical-investigations.org]

• Tamler's Zombie Paper

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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, you know? 

Actually we don't know. We honestly can't believe we made it to 50 episodes, so we must be brains in a vat. But we play along and celebrate with...a movie episode! We list our five favorite films about the subjective or questionable nature of reality. Our only rule: we couldn't choose The Matrix.  Listen to this episode--your Mom says it's psychologically taut.

Links

• Kramer, A. D., Guillory, J. E., & Hancock, J. T. (2014). Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 
• Rashomon (David) [imdb.com]
• Exit Through the Gift Shop (Tamler and David) [imdb.com]
• Banksy on "Life Remote Control" (clip, youtube.com)
  • Paul Bloom on art and forgery [ted.com]
• Spirited Away (Tamler) [imdb.com]
• My Neighbor Totoro (David) [imdb.com]
  • Mr. Snuffleupagus [wikipedia.org]
• Adaptation (Tamler) [imdb.com]
• Donnie Darko (David) [imdb.com]
• Stories we Tell (Tamler) [imdb.com]
• Waking Life (David) [imdb.com]
  • Robert Solomon [wikipedia.org]
• Mulholland Drive (Tamler) [imdb.com]

Tamler's Honorable Mentions

• Primer
• Dark City
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Memento
• The Truman Show
• Rosemary's Baby
• The Shining
• Purple Rose of Cairo
• The Conversation
• Shutter Island

Some SPOILER ALERT Links

• Tim Minchin summarizes Donnie Darko in song [youtube.com]
• Everything you were afraid to ask about Mulholland Drive by Bill Wyman,  Max Garrone, and Andy Klein [salon.com]

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Special guest Walter Sinnott-Armstrong joins the podcast to explain how his theory which desperately needs a new name ("contrastivism") can dissolve most of the fundamental problems and paradoxes in philosophy.  We also talk about psychopaths--what they are and what we can do about them.  But first we read and respond to an angry piece of fan mail (ok, maybe 'fan' is not the right word) from Sam Harris, trashing us--mostly Tamler--for our comments on VBW 45 about the new atheists. 

Links

• Sam Harris debates Andrew Sullivan [samharris.org]
• Richard Dawkins on the harm of fairy tales (read until the end) [telegraph.co.uk]
• Walter Sinnott-Armtrong's Home Page [duke.edu]
• Sinnott‐Armstrong, W. (2008). A contrastivist manifesto. Social Epistemology, 22(3), 257-270. 
• Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. (2006) It's not my fault: Global warming and individual moral obligations. Advances in the Economics of Environmental Resources 5, 285-307.
• The Memory of Jurors: Enhancing Trial Performance by Anders Sandberg, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, and Julian Savulescu.

Special Guest: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong.

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Special guest Walter Sinnott-Armstrong joins the podcast to explain how his theory which desperately needs a new name ("contrastivism") can dissolve most of the fundamental problems and paradoxes in philosophy. We also talk about psychopaths--what they are and what we can do about them. But first we read and respond to an angry piece of fan mail (ok, maybe 'fan' is not the right word) from Sam Harris, trashing us--mostly Tamler--for our comments on VBW 45 about the new atheists.