Episode 330: A Fact-Based Podcast (Gogol's "The Overcoat")
Very Bad Wizards
Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2026
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
David and Tamler return to the strange world of Nikolai Gogol and discuss his absurdist masterpiece "The Overcoat," a story that both calls for and steadfastly resists interpretation. But first we discuss a forthcoming Phil Studies article "Philosophy as Fact-Based Discipline: 200 Philosophical Facts." Wait until you hear what they are.
Frances, B. (2026). Philosophy as fact-based discipline: 200 philosophical facts. Philosophical Studies, 183(2), 551-581. [springer.com]
The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol [wikipedia.org]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Very Bad Wizards is a podcast with a philosopher, my dad, and psychologist Dave Vizarro, having an informal discussion about issues in 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, some very inappropriate jokes. |
| 0:17.2 | You did the right thing. |
| 0:18.7 | No, I didn't. The thing I thought was right, but not what people think is right. |
| 0:23.6 | Well, baby, you're turning into people. |
| 0:25.6 | But I don't want to be people. |
| 0:27.6 | The great end boss has spoken. |
| 0:33.6 | Play no attention to that man behind the curtain. |
| 0:43.6 | Who are you? |
| 0:45.7 | Who are you? |
| 0:47.4 | I'm a very bad man. |
| 0:49.3 | I'm a very good man. |
| 0:51.0 | Good man. |
| 0:59.0 | They think deep thoughts, and with no more brains than you have. May no attention tonight, man. |
| 1:02.0 | Anybody can have a brain? |
| 1:07.0 | You're a very bad man. I'm a very good man. Just a very bad man. |
| 1:11.7 | I'm a very good man. |
| 1:13.3 | Just a very bad wizard. |
| 1:16.2 | Welcome to Very Bad Wizards. |
| 1:17.7 | I'm Tamler Summers from the University of Houston. |
| 1:20.4 | Dave, your boy, Luca, is hurt. |
| 1:22.8 | So there's only one contest for you to care about now. |
... |
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