Bad Philosophy

Imagine you’re a teenager in the parking lot outside a grocery store. It’s hot, you’re tired, and you’re late. Your mother has strictly commanded you to be home in 5 minutes, and you have just enough time to make it. Suddenly, you spot an elderly woman struggling with a heavy cart of groceries. Cars honk at her as she shuffles toward her sedan. You see her flushing with anxiety. What do you do? Obey your mother and hope the woman is okay? Ignore your obligation to your mother and help her? Why? Why not?

Moral choices of various caliber arise for us daily. Maybe they’re not all as intense as this case, but nonetheless, how do we make our moral decisions? Where do our values originate? This episode Kevin and I revisit the question, examining our own moral compasses, a few case studies from our experiences, and some relevant philosophical perspectives. We highly recommend reading the show notes first. Enjoy!

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Show Notes

• Normative Ethics | Wikipedia
• Stanford Prison Experiment | Wikipedia
• Kenan Malik asks Where Do Values Come From? | The RSA
• Deontological Ethics | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Virtue Ethics | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Consequentialism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Post-Show Song

“Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia

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behaviorism, Boy Scouts, Community, consequentialism, ethics, Facebook, Golden Rule, Kenan Malik, law, McSweeney’s, morality, Net Neutrality, Nietzsche, normative ethics, pain, philosophy of mind, politeness, postmodernism, reality TV, religions, Slavoj Zizek, Starbucks, utilitarianism, virtue ethics

Genetic diversity is a crucial component any species’ survival. Could a similar principle apply to the creative potential of a a media entity? Specifically, is the Star Wars franchise at risk of inbreeding under Disney’s command? This Star Wars Day, Kevin and I tackle this and other questions related to our beloved cultural phenomenon. May the Fourth be with y’all!

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Show Notes

• Interview with J. J. Abrams | Playboy
• Income Inequality Graph | via Bruce Sterling
• List of Assets Owned by Disney | Wikipedia
• Thoroughbreds Are Running as Fast as They Can | FiveThirtyEight
• The Hugo Awards
• For Fear the Glass May Shatter | by David DeMaris

Post-Show Song

Theme from “Checkmate” by John Williams

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Alex Cox, Cheers, Community, Disney, Epic Mickey, Game of Thrones, Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas, Grand Budapest Hotel, gravity, Harry Potter, HBO, income inequality, J. J. Abrams, Joseph Campbell, Kevin, Kingdom Hearts, long tail, Marvel, May the Fourth, Mystery Science Theater 3000, narrative, Nate Silver, Nintendo, Patreon, Playboy, plutocracy, Roger Rabbit, Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Star Trek, Star Wars, Star Wars Day, Stephen, storytelling, television, The Guild, Transformers, Veronica Mars, VHX, Wes Anderson, Wookiepedia

We seem to have painted ourselves into a corner. The utopian promises of consumer capitalism have failed to materialize. Today we are more financially unequal than ever. The global hegemony is a plutocracy, whose asset-based power shapes political policies, information flows, and social structures with unaccountable hands. True reform is elusive, despite what should have been a devastating financial crisis in 2008. Roberto Unger is angry about this! On today’s show, Kevin and I ask some simple, troubling questions about our predicament, ponder the role of the individual in global change, and dote on cats. Because cats. Have a listen (or watch)!

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Show Notes

• Roberto Unger at the RSA | YouTube
• Roberto Unger on Social Science Bites
• The True Cost of Economics | RSA Talk by Philip Roscoe
• The Contradictions of Capitalism | RSA Talk by David Harvey
• Infinite Cat Project
• The Cold Equations and Moral Hazard | Cory Doctorow
• State of the World 2013 | The WELL

Post-Show Song

Zum Greifen nah by Bersarin Quartett

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activism, Alton Brown, Android, anger, Barack Obama, breast cancer, capitalism, CCC, charity, Civil Rights Movement, consequentialism, Cory Doctorow, CSR, deontology, extrinsic value, FDR, Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, Google, Great Depression, healthcare, idealism, Infinite Cat Project, intrinsic value, Kevin, Marxism, minimum income, PBS Idea Channel, pessimism, Philosophy Bites, Planet Money, podcasts, power, protest, RadioLab, realism, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Rosa Parks, RSA, schizophrenia, slacktivism, socialism, Spider Robinson, Stephen, The Cold Equations, Theodore Sturgeon, Tumblr, United States, WPA, Zoom

This past weekend we had our first Rule Set Update episode. Check it out on our brand spankin’ new YouTube channel!

Changelog – Rule Set [A] > [B]

• [Stephen] hosts [every] episode
• Each episode is roughly [1 hour] long
• We record episodes using [audio only] [audio and video] (Changed by Stephen)
• Episodes are posted every [3 weeks]
• We have at least [1] guest on every episode
• We [do] choose a topic before every episode
• Digressions (aka. rabbit trails) are [okay]
• We [do] use post-show music at the end of each episode
• We [do] include post-show banter cut from each episode
• We [do] include a “stinger”at the end of each episode
• We [do] edit episodes for time and content
• We talk to [each other] [and] to [the audience]
• We assume listeners have heard at least [5] recent episodes
• We record using [whatever devices are available]
• We record [wherever is most convenient]
• The host must begin every episode with the phrase [“Hello EveryWelcome and ONE to Bad Philosophy”] (Removed by Audience member Adam Byram)
• The host ends every episode with the phrase [“We’ll see you next time, on Bad Philosophy”]
• *NEW* Each episode begins with [one or more] epigraphs chosen by [Stephen and Kevin] (Added by Kevin)

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