Terrifying Questions

Eric Kaplan & 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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42 episodes
Updated Mar 3, 2025

Episodes42

Newest first

Jul 31, 2023 · 52 min
Episode 22: Is Being Unintelligible?
What is it to be? We be, and we be jammin’ but what about other things? Is a hole a thing? Or just a lack of dirt? Unicorns aren’t real, but are they in some other way? Perhaps unicorns are, but don’t exist. But if so, what about non-existent unicorns? What’s their deal? What is the “metaphysics of presence,” and why did it annoy Martin Heidegger? Do all why questions have answers? If so, why? If not, why not? Tune in and turn on and help Taylor and Eric grapple with the question (and the mystery) of being.
Jul 24, 2023 · 56 min
Episode 21: Are All Human Relationships Struggles for Domination?
Was Jean-Paul Sartre right that hell is other people? Are all human relationships an attempt to beat the Other before the Other beats the Us? Is every person coming down the road a potential master of a potential slave? Is all love either masochism or sadism? Is love a war? Or is war love by other means? Will listening to this podcast mean a battle of interpretations between you and us? If it is, who will surrender first?
Jul 17, 2023 · 56 min
Episode 20: Would You Do Bad Things if You Knew You Could Get Away With It?
Actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician Fred Armisen joins Eric and Taylor this week to ponder the twin mysteries of morality and moral motivation. Do we do good only out of a fear of blame and punishment? Would most people do wrong, if they knew no one was looking? Tune in and learn what Plato said Gyges did with the invisibility ring he found in a ditch. Also find out what Fred thinks Stone Age comedy probably looked like.
Jul 11, 2023 · 58 min
Episode 19: Does Desire Lead to Suffering?
This week Eric and Taylor are joined by journalist and adult industry activist Laura Desirée as they wonder whether desire inevitably leads to suffering. Or maybe desiring just is suffering. Is desire therefore bad? Maybe some kinds of suffering are good because they keep us from becoming numb to pains and pleasures of all kinds. Join us and confront the terror.
Jul 3, 2023 · 59 min
Episode 18: Does Technology Endanger Something Important About Being Human?
This week Eric and Taylor are joined by Michael Thaddeus, professor of mathematics at Columbia University, as they ponder the worrisome thought that technological progress might threaten something essential and/or precious about human existence. Are we sacrificing quality for efficiency? Are distraction and shallowness replacing focus and depth of thought and feeling? And why do phones sound so much worse now than they did in the 1970s?
Jun 25, 2023 · 58 min
Episode 17: Do We Have to Lie?
Is lying unavoidable? Should you always tell the truth, no matter what? Even if an axe murderer asks you where your sister is hiding? What if a flounder asks you, “Does this place on the sea floor make me look flat?” This week Eric and Taylor are joined by TV writer and executive producer Tara Hernandez, creator of Mrs. Davis. Together they discuss honesty and deception in life, the universe, and Hollywood.
Jun 19, 2023 · 47 min
Episode 16: Is It Impossible to Be Cool by Trying?
Can we try to become cool, or is trying to be cool by definition like totally uncool man? Is it like keeping yourself up trying to fall asleep? Maybe it’s impossible, like trying to look at the edge of your visual field. If you make a deliberate effort to be happy, or to be a loving person, are you doomed to fail? Join Eric and Taylor as they (try to) confront these unsettling questions head on.
Jun 11, 2023 · 49 min
Episode 15: Is There Any Such Thing as the Self?
Am I a self? Am I myself? Am I yourself? And if there is no such thing as the self, do I not exist? The Buddha and David Hume thought so – were they right? Join Taylor and Eric as they explore the conceptual labyrinth that is ourselves.
Jun 5, 2023 · 49 min
Episode 14: Are We Trapped by Tradition?
Are we prisoners of the past or is radical revolution possible? Revolutionaries say we can get out. Conservatives say we shouldn’t even want to. But maybe both sides get it wrong! Do we need a past to have a future? Join Taylor, Eric, and special guest Professor Bryan Van Norden, an expert in traditional Chinese philosophy, as we take a hard look at tradition. What is it? And what, if anything, is it good for?
May 29, 2023 · 51 min
Episode 13: What If Wisdom Does Not Make Us Blessed?
Philosopher Helen De Cruz joins Eric and Taylor this week to discuss the unsettling possibility that insight and understanding might not actually make us happier or more at peace with our existence. Maybe they just bum us out. Tune in and hear what the heretical Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza had to say about this three and a half centuries ago.
May 22, 2023 · 48 min
Episode 12: Are We Our Bodies?
Are we our bodies? Do we also have souls? Do we have minds? Do haircuts diminish our true selves? Can our selves be hit by a bus or uploaded onto The Cloud? The French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s body couldn’t be with us for this episode, but he joins us in spirit to tell us why we only meet people in the flesh.
May 15, 2023 · 53 min
Episode 11: Is God Dead?
Is God Dead? If He is, did we kill Him? If God is dead does that mean Humanity is dead too -- or at least that the category of being a human being is in need of some serious re-appraisal? Taylor and Eric discuss these questions and both theism and atheism get re-evaluated. Along the way, we discuss Nietzsche and the most famous sponge in the history of philosophy.
May 8, 2023 · 44 min
Episode 10: What If the Best I Can Do Just Isn’t Good Enough?
This week Eric and Taylor wonder and worry about what it means to try hard and still feel like you’re falling short. Are there objective standards of excellence or does happiness require just staying in your comfort zone?
May 1, 2023 · 52 min
Episode 9: Is Free Will an Illusion?
Is free will an illusion? Are we puppets? When we think we are thinking (or acting) freely, are we actually just cogs in a heartless, meaningless, deterministic cosmic machine?
Apr 24, 2023 · 53 min
Episode 8: Do We Need Other People?
Are we utterly dependent on others or should we look inward and try to be true to ourselves? Can we do both? Or neither? This week Eric and Taylor look to Ralph Waldo Emerson for some help with this deeply unsettling question.
Apr 17, 2023 · 52 min
Episode 7: Should Masculinity Be Abolished?
This week Eric and Taylor talk with Cristen Conger, host of the podcast Unladylike, about whether we might all be better off without masculinity, or maybe femininity, or maybe gender altogether. Would this be possible? Would it be a step forward? Tune in and find out.
Apr 10, 2023 · 48 min
Episode 6: Is Being a Good Person Just a Matter of Luck?
In this episode Eric and Taylor grapple with the problem of moral luck. Are we in control of being decent human beings and doing the right thing or are we at the mercy of circumstance and maybe even of our own character? Listen, feel unsettled, then feel okay.
Mar 27, 2023 · 50 min
Episode 4: Is It Possible to Have a Truly Meaningful Conversation?
In this week’s episode, Eric and Taylor wonder whether truly meaningful conversation with another person is possible, or if everything is just a matter of objective fact or subjective opinion, so that there’s nothing really to talk about. Tune in and find out what the German philosopher Immanuel Kant had to say about this.
Mar 20, 2023 · 52 min
Episode 3: Are We Living in a Simulation?
This week Eric and Taylor wonder if we might be living in a simulation. Are we brains in a vat? Are we dreaming? Could all of our beliefs be false? Take a deep breath, tune in, and find out.
Mar 13, 2023 · 50 min
Episode 2: Do Only Fools Fall in Love?
This week Eric and Taylor wonder whether it’s dumb to fall in love. Or maybe only a fool would refuse to fall in love. Can cool reason triumph over blind passion? How is love different from lust -- if it is? Tune in and find out.