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Brain in a Vat

Brain in a Vatpodcasters.spotify.com
Thought experiments and conversations with philosophers. Hosted by Dr Jason Werbeloff and Mark Oppenheimer.
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Episodes

Should You Volunteer To Get Covid? With Dustin Crummett

Could purposely infecting volunteers with the Coronavirus help us reach herd immunity or develop a vaccine more rapidly? Is it wrong to expose people to the risk of death, even if they consent? Thumbnail Art: Hold Your Breath Paulina Siniatkina

Sep 06, 202052 minSeason 1Ep. 21

Gorgeous or Grotesque? With Amanda Ballen

Can you be revolted and attracted to the same person? Can concepts be beautiful? Does art need to create sensations to be enjoyed? IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: A Grotesque Old Woman by Quentin Matsys

Sep 02, 20201 hr 8 minSeason 1Ep. 20

Crime and Punishment With Doug Husak

Who deserves to be punished? Should the State kill killers and rape rapists? Should we abolish the police and the prison system? Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/

Aug 23, 20201 hr 4 minSeason 1Ep. 18

Is Cultural Relativism Racist? With Justin Kalef

Culturals groups have different beliefs about what is morally right and wrong. Does a tolerant outlook mean that we should accept these different beliefs as correct? What if those beliefs are discriminatory? Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: The Dinner Party by Sam Walsh

Aug 16, 202050 minSeason 1Ep. 18

What is Love? With Raja Halwani

Is love everlasting? Can we love more than one person at the same time? Do we choose our lovers for the wrong reasons? http://rajasmusingsconfusings.blogspot.com/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: The Lovers by Rene Magritte

Aug 09, 20201 hr 5 minSeason 1Ep. 17

Are You Evil?

Is it wrong to root for the bad guy in a horror movie? Is evil a matter of who you are or what you do? What makes an action supremely evil? Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: The number of the beast is 666 by William Blake

Aug 02, 202058 minSeason 1Ep. 16

What's Wrong with Moral Grandstanding? With Brandon Warmke

What do Greta Thunberg, #BLM and #Metoo have in common? Are these moralising quests to end climate change, racism and sexism motivated by the will to do good, or merely the will to look good? Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk https://www.amazon.com/Grandstanding-Use-Abuse-Moral-Talk-ebook/dp/B0851PR3DB/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: J. C. Leyendecker The Politician...

Jul 26, 20201 hr 3 minSeason 1Ep. 15

Is it wrong to eat meat? With Dustin Crummet

Were you outraged when Cecil the lion was killed by a hunter? Are you against rhino poaching? Do you order extra bacon with your cheese burger? Are some animals more equal than others? Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: Jeff Lemire from Sweet Tooth

Jul 19, 20201 hr 19 minSeason 1Ep. 14

Graham Oppy: Does God Exist?

Can God exist if the world is filled with suffering? And are there compelling arguments for or against God's existence? Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: Terry Gilliam from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Jul 12, 20201 hr 16 minSeason 1Ep. 13

Should Offensive Art be Banned? With Elisa Galgut

What is art? Why is art valuable? If enough people feel hurt by a piece of art or public monument, should we hide or destroy the work? Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Thumbnail Art: Octavia Roodt http://www.octaviaroodt.com/

Jul 05, 202056 minSeason 1Ep. 12

Peter Boghossian: How to Have Impossible Conversations

"Defund the police. Violent protests are justified. Anyone against Black Lives Matter is a Nazi." How would you engage with these views? We ask Peter Boghossian how to have impossible conversations. Peter's Book: http://bit.ly/ConversationsBook New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com/translations-from-the-wokish/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Animation by Laurynne Gouws: https://www.lightbulbmedia.co.za/ Thumbnail Art: ...

Jun 28, 20201 hr 6 minSeason 1Ep. 11

Do You Live in a Simulation? With Kenny Pearce

Do you live in a simulation? And if you do, could you live a valuable life? We talk with Kenny Pearce this week to find out. Read Kenny's Berkeley book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-and-the-structure-of-berkeleys-world-9780198790334 And his book about Idealism here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/idealism-9780198746973 Podcast: https://anchor.fm/braininavat Facebook Discussion Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat Animation by Laurynne Gouws: https:...

Jun 21, 202058 minSeason 1Ep. 10

Does Race Exist? With Shaun Stanley

Does the colour of your skin, the texture of your hair, or the shape of your nose make you part of a racial group? Is race a social construct based on collective perception? Do the members of a race share beliefs, cultures and attitudes? Facebook Discussion Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat Thumbnail art: By Amazing Ameziane from Muhammad Ali Graphic Novel

Jun 14, 202059 minSeason 1Ep. 9

Does Tuvix Deserve to Die?

When Tuvok and Neelix accidentally merge into a single man in a transporter accident, Captain Janeway has to make a tough decision: Should she kill Tuvix to restore Tuvok and Neelix? We discuss the philosophy of Star Trek, transporters, and personal identity.

Jun 07, 20201 hrSeason 1Ep. 8

Is the Lockdown Lawful? With Martin van Staden

Are lockdown regulations lawful? Do we have a duty to obey the law? What if the law is immoral, contradictory or unknowable? The famous philosopher Lon Fuller wrote a thought experiment about King Rex who failed to make law in eight different ways. 1) A failure to achieve rules at, all so that every issue must be decided on an ad hoc basis. 2)A failure to publicize, or at least make available to the affected party, the rules he is expected to observe. 3)The abuse of retrospective legislation, wh...

May 31, 202056 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Time Travel and The Grandfather Paradox with Helen Robertson

Imagine you build a time machine. Is it possible for you to travel back in time, meet your grandfather before he produces any children, and kill him? Time travel is a sci-fi staple. Is Back to the Future philosophically accurate? Did J.K Rowling crack the secret of time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? As a bonus we explain why Rick and Morty's The Vat of Acid Episode isn't about time travel.

May 24, 20201 hr 3 minSeason 1Ep. 6

Belief, Faith, and Hope with Liz Jackson

Your brother has been missing for months and there is mounting evidence that he is dead. Is it rational to hope that he is alive and keep searching for him? Is it rational to have faith in the existence of God because, if he turns out to exist, your faith may let you into heaven while a lack of faith could condemn you to hell? Liz Jackson's public interviews: http://liz-jackson.com/public-philosophy/ Her paper on Belief, Faith and Hope: https://philpapers.org/archive/JACBFA.pdf Thumbnail image b...

May 17, 20201 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 5

Lost in Translation with Shaun Stanley

Language is ambiguous at the best of times, think about how much gets lost in translation. Imagine hearing a tribesman in a remote land utter the word "gavagai" upon seeing a rabbit. A speaker of English could do what seems natural and translate this as "Lo, a rabbit." But other translations would be compatible with all the evidence she has: "Lo, food"; "Let's go hunting"; "There will be a storm tonight" (he may be superstitious).

May 10, 202057 minSeason 1Ep. 4

The Value of Human Life with Eron Fasser

What can eating Marilyn Monroe's thigh and the pain of teenage heartbreak tell us about the value of human life? We discuss what makes life worth living and ending.

May 03, 20201 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 3

The Veil of Ignorance and Justice in a Lockdown

John Rawls thought we needed to wear a veil of ignorance to remove our biases before deciding on the rules of a just society. Are his ideas useful in a world where the elderly and the vulnerable are exposed to higher risks? Should the healthy and the well off accept limits on their freedom?

Apr 26, 202059 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Lockdown: A Trolley Problem

An out-of-control trolley is rumbling toward five innocent people trapped on a track. You can divert the trolley onto another track by pulling a switch, but the other track has one person on it. Do you pull the switch? Governments around the world have used lockdowns to save lives, but this choice has had severe economic consequences. Did they pull the right switch? Hosted by Dr Jason Werbeloff and Mark Oppenheimer.

Apr 22, 20201 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 1
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