Episode 291: Shoe Shining
Cornell philosopher David Shoemaker joins us for a long winding journey up to the Overlook Hotel, a DEEP dive on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. We tackle all the big questions - is the hotel truly hau...
27 Aug 20242h 12min
Episode 290: Blinded by the Light (Plato's Cave Pt. 2)
David and Tamler continue their discussion of Plato's allegory of the cave. We talk about the connections with mystical traditions including Gnosticism, Sufism, and Buddhist paths to awakening. We als...
6 Aug 20241h 37min
Episode 289: Shadows on the Wall (Plato's Cave Pt. 1)
Over the years we've referred repeatedly to Plato's cave, Platonic forms, and phrases like "copies of copies" without ever really explaining what we mean by these things. So as part of a new mini-seri...
23 Jul 20241h 12min
Episode 288: The Despised Foot (The Denial of Death Pt. 2)
David and Tamler conclude their discussion of Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death. We talk about Becker's philosophy of science (does he have one?), his sweeping explanations for strongman leaders, ne...
9 Jul 20241h 30min
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 ...
25 Jun 20241h 31min
Episode 286: Laugh and the World Laughs With You
David and Tamler dive into the mysteries at the heart of Park Chan-wook's deeply disturbing masterpiece "Oldboy" (2003). An ordinary man, Oh Dae-su, is imprisoned for 15 years in an old, windowless ho...
11 Jun 20242h 12min
Episode 285: On Culture and Agriculture
It's an old-school episode as David and Tamler dive into some intriguing research on the origins of cultural differences. Two neighboring communities in communist China were assigned to be wheat farme...
28 Mai 20241h 25min
Episode 284: Reel Choices
David and Tamler choose an episode topic that will define the identity and meaning of the Very Bad Wizards podcast going forward – our top 3 existentialist movies. Plus, you're gonna be shocked to hea...
15 Mai 20241h 22min
