Terrifying Questions

53. Should We Fear Death?

Eric and Taylor talk about death and whether we ought be afraid of it. In this episode Taylor speaks partly from personal experience because a few years ago he had a mild

50. Have We Forgotten Being?

Have we forgotten what it means to be? Is the history of being a history of our becoming oblivious to it? Does being even have a history? Taylor and Eric discuss these te

49. Are We Insects or Angels or Both?

Are we puny and wretched or divine and transcendent? Or are we both? According to the great French mathematician, inventor, and religious thinker Blaise Pascal (1623–1662

48. Was Nietzsche a Proto-Fascist?

Was Nietzsche a fascist? Does liking Nietzsche make you a fascist? If the bully boy heralds of MAGA are present-day fascists, does that make them latter-day Nietzscheans?

47. Are We Always at War with Ourselves?

Did you ever want something and not want it, or love somebody and also hate them? If you did, does that mean there are two different things inside you and they are having

46. Are We Living in a Cave? (Part 2)

Are we still living in a cave? In this sequel episode Eric and Taylor contemplate what might happen if you got out of Plato’s cave. Would the sun blind you? And if you tr

45. Will Intelligent Machines Destroy Us?

Are computers becoming so supersmart that they might supersede all human intelligence and eat us for lunch? Or is the very idea of “machine intelligence” a sad blend of c

44. Are We Living in a Cave? (Part 1)

Are ordinary experience and everyday life hopelessly benighted and delusional, a realm of shadows, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing? This week Eric and Taylo

Episode 40: Is Food Art?

This week Julia Moskin, Pulitzer Prize winning food reporter for the New York Times, joins Eric and Taylor to ask whether food is (or can be) art, and how it manages to d

Episode 38: Is Justice Possible?

Some things are obviously horribly bad and wrong. Is it possible to make them right? Do some people deserve satisfaction while others deserve punishment or mercy? When ju

Episode 37: Is It Okay to Be Fat?

Do we owe it to anyone (even ourselves) to be thin? Is being thin always healthier, sexier, better looking, or somehow more praiseworthy? Is it easier to be a great philo

Episode 36: Can You Succeed in the Music Business Without Selling Out?

Does the lure of fame and fortune necessarily get in the way of making great music? Or is it okay to make some fun ear candy as a way of putting food on the table? This w

Episode 35: Can a Sound Look Like Something?

Synesthesia! A weird thing experienced only by unusual people, or by ordinary people on unusual drugs, or – is it something everybody has all the time? Are very low music

Episode 34: Is Revenge Inevitable?

Is revenge a dish best served cold, hot, or not at all? Should we all go on a revenge diet, or is it just too tasty? Could hitting back be so much fun that we can’t give

Episode 33: Do Things Happen for a Reason?

Things happen. Sometimes you find a $10 bill. Sometimes a bird craps on your head. Are these events just the meaningless result of previous events or is there a hidden pu

Episode 32: Is Almost Everyone a Failure?

This week Taylor and Eric are joined by philosopher Kieran Setiya, author of Life Is Hard, which they agree it is. It’s especially hard if you think you’re doomed to fail

Episode 31: Are We Always Just Acting?

Is everything we do a kind of performance? Are we always reading from a script? And what makes bad acting bad? Do psychopaths make good actors? Do politicians make good p

Episode 30: Was the Woke Mind Virus Created by French Philosophers?

Were poststructuralist, postmodern, postrespectable French philosophers like Michel Foucault the real masterminds behind identity politics, critical race theory, cultural

Episode 28: Is It Bad to Judge People?

Being “judgmental” sounds like something bad, yet refraining from all moral judgment seems pathetic, and also impossible. So, what should we do? Can we be truly compassio

Episode 27: Why Do We Like to Remember Things that Hurt?

Is there any pain as great as recalling past happiness from present misery? If so, why do we do it? Do we get pleasure from tormenting ourselves about losing something (o