Episode 290: Blinded by the Light (Plato's Cave Pt. 2)

Very Bad Wizards

Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2024

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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’ – what allows this method to journey towards the first principle (the Form of the Good) and then double back to justify the initial assumptions made at the start? And if only philosophers can embark on this journey, why does everyone think of them as useless and corrupt?

Plus we look at some research that attempts to provide empirical support for ‘terror management theory’ which makes us yearn for the unfalsifiability of Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death.

Links

Schimel, J., Hayes, J., Williams, T., & Jahrig, J. (2007). Is death really the worm at the core? Converging evidence that worldview threat increases death-thought accessibility. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(5), 789. [researchgate.net]

Many Labs 4: Failure to replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement [ucpress.edu]

Neoplatonism [wikipedia.org]

Neoplatonism and Gnosticism [wikipedia.org]

Plato's Unwritten Doctrines [wikipedia.org]

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Very Bad Wizards is a podcast with a philosopher, my dad, and a psychologist Dave Vizarro,
0:06.0	having an informal discussion about issues and science and ethics.
0:09.4	Please note that the discussion contains bad words that I'm not allowed to say and knowing my dad
0:14.5	some very inappropriate jokes. I guess God has a plan for all of us. God's a kid
0:21.0	with an ant farm lady.
0:23.0	He's not planning anything.
0:26.0	The way then,
0:30.0	The way then,
0:31.0	has spoken.
0:34.0	Pay no attention to that man behind the curtains.
0:40.0	Who are you? A very bad man. I'm a very good man. Good man.
0:50.8	Man. They think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have.
0:57.0	May no attention to that man.
1:01.0	Anybody can have a brain?
1:05.0	You're a very bad man.
1:10.0	I'm a very good man.
1:12.0	Just a very bad wizard.
1:15.0	Welcome to very bad wizards.
1:16.7	I'm Tamler Summers from the University of Houston.
1:19.4	Dave, you and all the other white men out there got your wish.
1:24.0	Joe Biden has pulled out of his re-election campaign and Kamala Harris looks to be the nominee.
1:30.0	Are you coconut-pilled yet?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.