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. 

August 27, 2024
291
02:12:12121.25 MB

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 haunted? What if anything does it symbolize? Why are the...

August 06, 2024
290
01:37:16111.53 MB

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 also dig deeper into what Socrates calls ‘dialectic’ – wh...

July 23, 2024
289
01:12:1882.95 MB

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-series we’re going dive deeper into Plato’s famous images ...

July 09, 2024
288
01:30:05103.31 MB

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, neuroses, mental illness, sexual fetishes, and the refr...

June 25, 2024
287
01:31:06104.47 MB

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 t...

Listener Reviews

Read what other people are saying about our podcast!

Apple Podcasts
Very bad fun!

Love the intellectual banter, love the prove that intellectuals and academics can be funny, love the bad about this goodness!

Apple Podcasts
Great show

Makes me laugh. Makes me think. Two of my favorite things.

Apple Podcasts
Best podcast EVER

My favorite podcast I’ve found! Currently trying to catch up on the decade of episodes I’ve missed. Dave and Tamler are simultaneously funny and informative, with the perfect mix of clashing opinions that allows the listener to be entertained and engaged. I feel like these two professors have become my best friends eve...

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