Bad Philosophy » Aristotle

Episode 051: Reading Rainbow

StephenTorrence — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:31:55 +0000

It’s easy to take our perceptions for granted. Colors, shapes, smells, and so forth are for the most part universal. But some people have this kickass condition called synesthesia, where their wires get crossed and their perceptions get… interesting. BF was privileged to get a man who sees letters and numbers as colors on the show, Shawn Brackett. Never one to miss out on a good freak show, Damn Good Philosopher of Religion Dr. Mark Webb also decided drop by, with Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins and the Uke-tastic Kevin Saunders. Best f***ing believe, it was the trippiest BF ever. Take a look…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Roy G. Biv” by They Might Be Giants

Episode 048: Full of WINtegrity

StephenTorrence — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:16:21 +0000

We hear a lot of talk these days about “Integrity,” and how it’s all good to have and such. But what does it even mean to have integrity? In this episode BF took a trip to Curzertown (the realm of Texas Tech philosophy professor Dr. Howard Curzer) to find out the answer. Ad-hoc philosopher Michael Hayslip also joined us for another appearance, and sadly we did without the presence of the good Kevin Saunders. Somehow we survived though, and came up with quite the F-isode in the process. Check it out!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “A Talk With George” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 044: BYOBF

StephenTorrence — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:25:51 +0000

Beer. That oh-so-ubiquitous alcoholic beverage. It has been the bane and boon of many a man’s life over the centuries, and now it has finally arrived (officially) here at Bad Philosophy. Local Texas Tech physics student Catherine Chesnutt kindly hosted the show in her back yard shack, where Eric Beutlich, Josh Clemmons, Kevin Saunders and I came together in splendid inebriation to talk causation, epistemology, and much more over some delicious Planters Peanuts. So grab a cold one, settle in, and enjoy some authentic beer philosophy…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Galaxy Song” by Monty Python

Episode 042b: Plato’s Movie Theater

StephenTorrence — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:34:16 +0000

Imagine yourself in a movie theater. It is the only place you’ve ever known. The smell of popcorn, the sticky floors, and of course the endless projected movies on the screen are your reality. What would you believe about “the real world” if this was all you knew? Would you even believe there was one if someone told you?

Plato asked questions like this over 2000 years ago in his infamous “Allegory of the Cave” from The Republic. On this historic episode, Kevin Saunders and I read and discuss the dialogue itself… in character (yes, we are that awesome). You can read along with us if you’d like (trust us, the wording can get pretty thick).

On a side note, we’re also ONE YEAR OLD as of a few days ago! Please wish us a happy birthday if you’d like, and then go listen to Episode Zero while shedding a nostalgic tear.

Stickam version below of course:

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Bruce’s Philosophers’ Song” by Monty Python

Episode 041: How the West Was Mu

StephenTorrence — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:34:51 +0000

Eastern thought has been a curiosity for Western culture ever since Marco Polo made his epic journey to Asia in the 1200s. The legacy of this curiosity lives on, and so Bad Philosophy has decided to undertake the momentous task of reconciling Eastern and Western philosophy in a single episode (because we’re just awesome like that). Joining me for his first episode ever is mechanical engineering graduate student Sean Mullen, alongside an uncharacteristically in-person Kevin Saunders. NUF (Numero Uno Fanboy) Jed Cummins worked the camera (sort of) and despite many technical difficulties we actually managed some good conversation. So grab a fortune cookie, sit down on your tatami, and have a listen…

You can also watch the live *UNCENSORED* Stickam recording below.

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “I Like Chinese” by Monty Python

Episode 040: Meta-Mathic Smackdown

StephenTorrence — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:36:37 +0000

In a world, divided by history, separate but equal, teetering on the brink of the cosmos, one podcast dares to defy the axioms and go where no podcast has gone bef… well you get the idea. This week we’re talking Anathem! Neal Stephenson‘s latest work of spec-fic awesomery is ripe with headiness, so we decided to bring on couple of powerhouses in the brain department. Former-KTXT and current Llano Idea DJ Benjamin Brown returns to duke it out in a literary smackdown for the ages with veteran Bad Philosopher and aspiring YouTube reviewer Kevin Saunders. If this were a book, it’d be a genuine page-turner. But you read with your ears, right? Of course you do. So have a listen…

You also have the option to watch our live Stickam recording below. Join us next Sunday at 12pm CST for Episode 41!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Mandelbrot Set” by Jonathan Coulton

Episode 038: Incremental Hope

StephenTorrence — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:53:12 +0000

After a completely unintended hiatus brought on by the super-unfortunate necessity to re-edit this episode, it’s finally here! And it’s a good one, folks. Dr. Mark Webb, now chairman of the Texas Tech philosophy department joins me for his third appearance on the show, alongside Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins and national traveler Kevin Saunders. We discuss charity, education, and the Turkish movement that’s sweeping the world. Also, trolleys. Enjoy!

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Birdhouse in Your Soul” by They Might be Giants

Episode 035: Intellectual Hedonism

StephenTorrence — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:53:47 +0000

Why are we here? What’s this all about? What is my purpose? What is yours? Is there even one at all? These are easy questions to ask, but answering them is a whole different story. Wolfram Alpha has one idea. We’ve got some others. Composing my party in an epic aural quest for the meaning of life, the universe, and everything this week were BF newcomer, veteran philosophy major, and budding teleologist Joshua Clemmons, Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins, and electricity-less Kevin Saunders via Skype. This one’s deep folks. We’re talking Edward Norton in Fight Club deep. Have a listen…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Purpose” from Avenue Q. Puppets with life lessons? Yes, please!

Episode 028: But Is It Science?

StephenTorrence — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:29:31 +0000

Since the dawn of time, man has peered out humbly at the world through his eyeballs and tried to make sense of it all in some systematic fashion. Aristotle famously set this ship of science on its way when he remarked casually one fine Grecian day, “You know, studies show that women have fewer teeth than men.” Of course, he was full of s***, but that’s beside the point! The A-man set a precedent of discourse that has continued to this very day, according to some experts.

On this episode BF embarked on the adventure of video once again, trying and failing to broadcast via Justin.tv and then returning to our loyal stalwart, Stickam. We had Eric Beutlich back on for his second appearance since co-founding the podcast, and numero uno fanboy Jed Cummins once again operated our camera. It wasn’t scientific, it wasn’t pretty, but it was most definitely BF. Have a listen!

This week’s post-roll music: “That Spells DNA” by Jonathan Coulton. Buy it! Download it! Whatever! We love the man and his music, and so should you.

Episode 008: Microwave THIS

StephenTorrence — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:39:40 +0000

A friend of a friend told me that if you listen to Bad Philosophy on a Microsoft Zune while preparing a Hot Pocket, the microwaves resonate with the current in the headphone wires and cause your ears to secrete Jello! Really … this totally happens … … Okay, you caught us. It’s a pure urban legend, just one of many we discuss on this fine yarn of an episode. Local genius Nick Bergfeld and the beautiful Kimberly Stewart both joined us for the first time, adding a touch of magic and some unintentional cuteness to the occasion. Oh, be sure to meet your swallowed spider quota after listening, or Osama Bin Ladin will forward you knock-knock joke emails from now until the end of the Mayan calendar.

PS. If you’re wondering what happened to Episode 007: Pretentiousism… well, it will forever be known as the “lost episode,” since the sound quality on the recording was discovered to be catastrophically horrendous after the fact. We might attempt to recover it someday, but until then it will be lost forever to the sands of time. On the bright side though, our ordinal and cardinal number sequences are now in sync. (i.e. episode 8 = the 8th episode) Yay…

Episode 005: Leveraging Excellence

StephenTorrence — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:10:50 +0000

Why do bad things happen to good people? Do cheaters ever prosper? And what the heck does it mean to “leverage excellence” anyway? We’re not quite sure, but apparently it has something to do with setting baby deer on fire, Ray Kurzweil, and slurpees. Eminent Texas Tech philosopher, fencer, and all-around good guy Dr. Mark Webb joins us to tackle these issues and lend some academic credibility to our incredible little experiment. Don’t panic if his benevolent, authoritative voice puts you into a trance. It’s all part of the plan…

Episode 003: What Would Hitler Choose?

StephenTorrence — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:22:24 +0000

After a rather significant rain delay, the wild of musings of the Bad Philosophers are back. With the healthy addition of founding member Eric Beutlich, we went on a rockin’ roller coaster ride that kicked off with some pondering about free will, meandered around to the homogenization of modern society, and even weathered an unfortunate appearance of Godwin’s Law before dropping precipitously into the depths of the problem of evil and narrowly skirting decapitation. By the end of the ride… well… let’s just say the roller coaster operators had a few “protein spills” to clean up. Enjoy…

I did some meddling with the intro sequence on this one. Also, be sure to listen all the way to end. As you may have discovered already, there will be a different audible morsel following each episode. Collect them all and you might win a pat on the back from a horny penguin!