Very Bad Wizards

Dave and Tamler break the cardinal rule of comedy by trying to analyze it. What are the origins and functions of humor? Can a theory explain what makes us laugh? Is humor entirely subjective? Why woul...

18 Mai 20151h 17min

Special guest Yoel Inbar (author of Hitchcock's Women: From Margaret Sullivan to Tippi Hedren) joins us to talk about Hitchcock's long take masterpiece/gimmick Rope. Based loosely on the case of Leopo...

20 Apr 20151h 24min

Holy crap, it's the apocalypse!!!!   ...for philosophy. Maybe. Has this 2500 year old discipline become too technical, too disconnected from the real world? Is it just a handmaiden to the sciences? (W...

6 Apr 20151h 19min

Dave and Tamler talk about the human tendency to believe in a just world. Why do we have the belief? Does it make us less motivated to fight injustice? How does it connect to our beliefs about free wi...

19 Mar 20151h 13min

Sam Harris gets back in the VBW ring for another round on moral responsibility, ethical theories, and the grounds for our obligations to other people. Are we at a genuine stalemate when it comes to bl...

28 Feb 20152h 46min

Dave and Tamler discuss a new study that, according to Tamler, offers decisive support for restorative approaches to criminal punishment (the only problem is he didn't read past the introduction). And...

9 Feb 20151h 1min

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 and Why it Matters," and play some excerp...

19 Jan 20151h 15min

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 your New Year's viewing and reading pleasur...

2 Jan 20151h 12min