Brain in a Vat

Latest Episodes:

The Fall of UCT | David Benatar Dec 05, 2021

Show notes

Destructive forces have been eroding the University of Cape Town, Africa’s leading university. David Benatar tells the sad, true tale of what has been transpiring. It is a saga of lunacy, criminality, pandering, and identity politics. The mad and the bad – the deranged, deluded, the depraved – have been granted endless latitude in bullying and abusing others.

The Possible Worlds of David Lewis | Barry Lam Nov 28, 2021

Show notes

What are possible worlds? Could you have been born to different parents, and could the laws of physics be different? Barry Lam explains how David Lewis’s views on possible worlds can help us understand everything from the nature of time to free will.

Listen to more of Barry’s episodes on David Lewis on Hi-Phi nation here: https://hiphination.org/season-5/

Can Hope Save Your Life? | Jack Kwong Nov 21, 2021

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Is it possible to hope for something good, but feel despair that it won't happen? Is it virtuous to feel hopeful? Can hoping make you act recklessly?

Moral Disagreement | Eric Sampson Nov 14, 2021

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In a world where we disagree about pretty much everything - about borders and abortion, marriage and monogamy, wars and meat-eating - how do you maintain confidence in your own moral position? And can you convince the moral nihilist you're right?

Ballenesque | Roger Ballen Nov 07, 2021

Show notes

Marginalized people, animals, found objects, wires and childlike drawings inhabit the unlocatable worlds presented in Ballen's artworks. Ballen describes his works as existential psychodramas that touch the subconscious mind and evoke the underbelly of the human condition. They aim to break through the repressed thoughts and feelings by engaging him in themes of chaos and order, madness or unruly states of being, the human relationship to the animal world, life and death, universal archetypes of the psyche and experiences of otherness. https://www.youtube.com/c/RogerBallenPhotography https://www.rogerballen.com/

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/oODP1IsFj5I

Pandemic Ethics | Peter Singer Oct 31, 2021

Show notes

Rebecca Tuvel, Dan Cullen and Eric Samson interview Peter Singer about pandemic ethics. Are lockdowns and mandatory vaccines morally justified? What should governments have done differently? Why were there calls to cancel this lecture?

https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2021/09/peter-singer-invited-to-give-a-zoom-talk-about-pandemic-ethics-by-the-philosophy-department-at-rhode.html

https://dailynous.com/2021/09/28/faculty-at-rhodes-college-urge-cancellation-of-online-talk-by-peter-singer/

Michael Huemer on Disobeying the Law Oct 24, 2021

Show notes

Should you disobey the law, at least some of the time? If justice isn’t simply enforcing the law, then what is it? And what sorts of laws would we have in a just society?

Is Nuclear War Ever Justified? | Eron Fasser Oct 17, 2021

Show notes

Should certain weapons be banned from use in war? Are there limits on the amount of force countries should use to protect their citizens? Is it ever justified to kill innocent civilians to end a war?

ICJ Advisory Opinion: https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/95

Plato’s problem with Democracy | Clif Mark Oct 10, 2021

Show notes

Is Democracy the best political system? Plato thought not. But what is the best alternative? Clif Mark, from the podcast Good in Theory, joins us this week to discuss Plato’s Republic.

https://goodintheorypod.com/

Is it wrong to enjoy good films made by bad people? | Travis Timmerman Oct 03, 2021

Show notes

Is the art separate from the artist? Can a moral defect in a film undermine its aesthetic quality?