Episode 287: Gods With Anuses (The Denial of Death Pt. 1)
Very Bad Wizards25 Jun 2024

Episode 287: Gods With Anuses (The Denial of Death Pt. 1)

David faces his greatest fear as he and Tamler dive into Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer Prize winner The Denial of Death. Blending existentialist ideas within a psychoanalytic framework, Becker argues that the ultimate source of human motivation is not the repression of sexual drives (as Freud thought) but our terror of death and the yearning for an immortality we can never possess. This episode focuses on Part One of Becker's book, and we'll conclude the discussion in the next episode.

Plus are gun owners really dissatisfied with their penis size? We look at the numbers.

Hill, T. D., Zeng, L., Burdette, A. M., Dowd-Arrow, B., Bartkowski, J. P., & Ellison, C. G. (2024). Size matters? Penis dissatisfaction and gun ownership in America. American journal of men's health, 18(3), 15579883241255830.

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker [amazon.com affiliate link]

The Denial of Death [wikipedia.org]

Let us know where we should hold our 300th episode listener meet-up [surveymonkey.com]

Episoder(335)

Episode 299: Oh the Humility!

Episode 299: Oh the Humility!

David and Tamler wrap up the new year talking about intellectual virtues and Rachel Fraser's excellent essay "Against Humility." What is intellectual humility exactly and do we need it for knowledge a...

24 Des 20242h 6min

Episode 298: Pass the Peace Pipe

Episode 298: Pass the Peace Pipe

Why do we punish people? How did our punishment practices evolve and what is their primary function? David and Tamler talk about a new paper that examines punitive justice in three small-scale societi...

10 Des 20241h 20min

Episode 297: No Pleasure in Meanness (Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find")

Episode 297: No Pleasure in Meanness (Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find")

David and Tamler face off with the Misfit in Flannery O'Connor's classic short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." We sort through the biblical allusions, dark comedy, nihilism, and the possibility of...

26 Nov 20241h 41min

Episode 296: The Other CRT

Episode 296: The Other CRT

David and Tamler share a few brief thoughts on the election and then raise some questions about Tucker Carlson being attacked by a demon as he slept in the woods with his wife and four dogs (still don...

12 Nov 20241h 3min

Episode 295: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Episode 295: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

David and Tamler hop into their Scooby Van and drive into Tobe Hooper's mad and macabre horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. How does this endlessly imitated movie still have the power to sca...

29 Okt 20241h 33min

Episode 294: The Scandal of Philosophy (Hume's Problem of Induction)

Episode 294: The Scandal of Philosophy (Hume's Problem of Induction)

CD Broad called induction "the glory of science and the scandal of philosophy." As a matter of habit, we're all confident that the sun will rise tomorrow morning and that we can predict where the plan...

8 Okt 20241h 13min

Episode 293: Who Is the Dreamer? (Borges' "The Circular Ruins")

Episode 293: Who Is the Dreamer? (Borges' "The Circular Ruins")

David and Tamler crawl up a riverbank, kiss the mud, and dream a discussion of Borges' "The Circular Ruins." We sort through various interpretations and allusions, the story as a metaphor for artistic...

24 Sep 20241h 25min

Episode 292: Boundary Issues

Episode 292: Boundary Issues

David and Tamler lead off with a breakdown of the new commercial for "friend (not imaginary)" a new AI necklace that takes hikes with you, interrupts your favorite shows, and will be there for your fi...

10 Sep 20241h 15min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
min-barneoppdragelse
wolfgang-wee-uncut
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
grenselos
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
fladseth
frokostshowet-pa-p5
synnve-og-vanessa
alt-fortalt
opptur-med-annette-og-ingeborg