Terrifying Questions

Eric Kaplan and Taylor Carman

Eric Kaplan, a comedy writer (Futurama, Big Bang Theory) and doctor of philosophy, and Taylor Carman (Barnard College, Columbia University), a philosophy professor specializing in phenomenology, existentialism, and hermeneutics, host a podcast that addresses unsettling questions concerning human existence and the order of things with the goal of finding a path to courage using comedy, imagination, and dialogue. Along the way they occasionally grapple with the deep uncanniness of being.

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22 episodes
Avg 55 min
English

Episodes 22

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August 26 · 56 min
Episode 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 terrible, wondrous, “rich and strange” subjects in anticipation of the publication of Taylor's forthcoming book, Heidegger and the History of Being.
August 9 · 53 min
Episode 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), yes. This week Eric and Taylor contemplate Pascal's proto-existentialist account of the human condition and its possible relevance to Taoism, evolution, AI, language, and (maybe) the religious practices of elephants.
Mar 3, 2025 · 58 min
Episode 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? Join Eric and Taylor as they distinguish several varieties of chest-thumping, bluster, and skepticism about truth. And as Nietzsche himself said, “If this podcast episode does not kill you, it will make you stronger.”
Feb 17, 2025 · 58 min
Episode 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 a war? Or are there three? This week Eric and Taylor look at the idea of internal conflict, internal peace, what it all means, and what if anything can be done about it. They also reply to two letters from nonimaginary listeners.
Feb 10, 2025 · 44 min
Episode 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 tried to convince the other prisoners to escape, would they kill you? Also this week, replies to some letters from listeners.
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Feb 3, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
Episode 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 conceptual confusion, willful ignorance, magical thinking, and financial opportunism? If you’re not sure (and if you can’t get an LLM to give you a straight answer), have a listen and get back in touch with your humanity.
S1 · E44
Jan 27, 2025 · 1 hr
Episode 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 spectacle and drama but signifying nothing? This week Eric and Taylor descend into the most famous four pages in the history of Western philosophy: Plato’s allegory of the cave. Tune in and overcome your fear of truth, wisdom, and the beautiful.
Feb 11, 2024 · 1 hr 11 min
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 do that while also just being yummy. Should great food taste like nothing you’ve ever tasted before or should it taste like the best ever version of its ingredients? Is culinary quality subjective or objective? Why do critics write reviews? Tune in and find out.
Jan 7, 2024 · 54 min
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 juries deliver verdicts and judges impose sentences, are they speaking the truth or just fumbling in the dark and settling on the least bad outcome? This week Taylor and Eric reflect on the possibility, the impossibility, and the necessity of justice.
Dec 31, 2023 · 57 min
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 philosopher or to get into heaven if you’re thin? This week Eric and Taylor are joined by philosopher Kate Manne, whose new book examines diet culture and fatphobia. The truth, as it often does, might surprise you.
Dec 18, 2023 · 1 hr 2 min
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 week Taylor and Eric chat about artistic integrity and the temptations of popularity and money with singer, songwriter, philosopher, violinist, and attorney at law, Andrew Choi – also known by musical nom de plume, St Lenox. As a bonus, find out how Bob Marley was inspired by the Banana Splits.
Nov 26, 2023 · 32 min
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 musical notes literally “dark”? Can food sound like something, like hot peppers going “ping” on your tongue? Why does it make sense to call a fork a “zrickrick” and a pillow a “baobwab”? Or does it? In 1688 William Molyneux asked John Locke whether a blind person who regained her vision would be able to distinguish a square from a circle by sight. Locke said no. Leibniz said yes. Who was right? This week Eric and Taylor puzzle over Molyneux’s question and a variety of other related and unrelated matters to do with musical temperament, linear perspective, and octopuses.
Nov 20, 2023 · 38 min
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 it up? Or is the best revenge the serene feeling of being above revenge? Even if we know that vengeance inevitably leads to an endless cycle of vengeance, is it possible to get off the not-so-merry-go-round? How did Athena help the Furies become the Kindly Ones? Join Taylor and Eric as they confront the terrifying fact that human beings seem to be addicted to revenge.
Nov 7, 2023 · 54 min
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 purpose behind everything? Does God’s plan underlie the chaos of experience? Is the idea that something was “meant to be” (or not meant to be) comforting or crippling? And is the idea that everything is possible liberating or paralyzing? This week Helen De Cruz makes a record-breaking second appearance on the podcast to help Taylor and Eric think through the idea that we might be better off not believing in providence.
Oct 23, 2023 · 55 min
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 failure. Are you? Not necessarily. But if you don’t worry about success and failure, are you just going to be swimming in a soup of nothing matters and who cares? Tune in and find out how and why we judge life projects, careers – and people themselves – as successes or failures. Should we be making these judgments? Would our lives be better if we didn’t?
Oct 16, 2023 · 55 min
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 psychopaths? And why do presidential candidates emphasize what they’re saying by pointing with their thumbs? Film and television actor Kevin Sussman joins Taylor and Eric to talk through these disturbing mysteries.
Oct 8, 2023 · 59 min
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 appropriation, and pumpkin spice latte? Will civilization survive the rampant, unchecked questioning of grand narratives? Join Taylor and Eric as they unravel this bundle of phone cords and contemplate equality, freedom, civility and mutual respect, Foucault’s historical counternarratives, pronouns, green hair, nose rings, and the myth of trigger warnings.
Sep 18, 2023 · 1 hr 3 min
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 compassionate without also being capable of anger, resentment, and maybe some occasional Schadenfreude? This week Eric and Taylor are joined by actor, writer, and television producer Andy Richter, who will help them sort out when it’s okay and when it’s not okay to be, as Jesus of Nazareth said, “judgy.”
Sep 11, 2023 · 53 min
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 (or someone) we loved? Was Socrates right that living well means learning how to die? Does being comforted too quickly mean we never really cared? And if so, how quick is too quick? Join Eric, Taylor, Dante, Dostoevsky, and William Blake for an unsettling yet strangely consoling meditation on the paradox of grief.
Aug 28, 2023 · 1 hr
Episode 26: What Comes After Monotheism?
Does belief in God lead to intolerance and violence? Is monotheism about the number of gods or is it, as Egyptologist Jan Assmann suggests, about “having no other gods” and stamping out idol worship and superstition? Are secular atheists really just monotheists fighting a holy war against religion? Does monotheism contribute anything good to psychology or politics, and if so, is it worth the price? Join Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Moses, and the pharaoh Akhenaten for a discussion of whether we should be zealous for a jealous God or have an open relationship with the divinities.

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