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. 

May 15, 2024
284
01:22:3494.7 MB

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 hear this, you might want to sit down, but there has been...

April 30, 2024
283
01:23:5396.22 MB

Episode 283: When Elephants Podcast

David and Tamler talk about Caitrin Keiper’s wonderful sprawling essay on elephant life and society and the many philosophical questions surrounding these extraordinary creatures. What kind of mental states can we attribute to them? Do they have a kind o...

April 16, 2024
282
01:25:1297.72 MB

Episode 282: Fearful Symmetry (Borges' "Death and the Compass")

A Rabbi is found dead in a hotel room, stabbed in the chest. The room is filled with Kabbalah texts and a single page in an typewriter that reads “The first letter of the name has been written.” The celebrated detective and “reasoning machine” Erik Lönnr...

March 26, 2024
281
01:22:4294.86 MB

Episode 281: Choose Your Fighter

We dig into the biggest rivalry in Tamler’s profession, analytic vs. continental philosophy. Are analytic philosophers truly the rigorous, precise, clear thinkers they take themselves to be? And is continental philosophy really just a bunch pretentious c...

March 12, 2024
280
01:39:37114.23 MB

Episode 280: Mad Masque (with Phil Ford and J.F. Martel)

Phil Ford and J.F. Martel from the great "Weird Studies" podcast join us for a whirling discussion of Edgar Allan Poe’s mesmerizing tale of decadence and disease “The Masque of the Red Death." We also talk about weird fiction more generally, why it’s so ...

Listener Reviews

Read what other people are saying about our podcast!

Apple Podcasts
Top Pod, Now ad-free!

Long time listener, first time review (sorry). Especially stoked on this show now that it’s 100% listener supported

Apple Podcasts
Love these fools

Been listening for years, one of the few pods I listen to that makes me laugh out loud in public.

Apple Podcasts
The GOAT

Been listening to these guys for almost 5 years now. Thanks for many laughs and insights. You two have helped me through some very hard times!