Philosophy vs. Improv

Hell is NOT other people, and the more the merrier, with our second episode with guests being with TWO guest improvisers, Jill, co-founder of HUGE Theater and her friend Michelle, owner of Improv MKE. Bill and our guests each start a scene to explore something of what utopia might amount to, and of course how it will inevitably go bad. Then we discuss whether there is some single type of utopia, or whether human nature precludes this. Would YOU take a cookie? Image by I don’t remember. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma! Sponsors: Visit betterhelp.com/improv to be matched with a licensed, professional therapist. Learn about St. John’s College at sjc.edu/improv.

Riffing on resemblance. Eventually invoking the spirit of a toaster. Mark is wrong: the God Emperor of Dune can’t drink water at all, just dried food. Learn about Del Close. Philosophy barely makes it in, but if you want to chase down this nonsense about whether a robot cat is still a cat or not, check out the Twin Earth stuff in PEL’s Putnam episode. Image by Maia. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma! Sponsors: Visit betterhelp.com/improv to be matched with a licensed, professional therapist. Learn about St. John’s College at sjc.edu/improv.

Do you believe in miracles? If doctors believed in miracles, would they just let surgeries finish themselves? Do assumptions of a logical universe make it not just unjustified by psychologically impossible for us to really believe in miracles? Read about our VERY FIRST guest, Tim Sniffen at timsniffen.com. Follow him @MisterSniffen and hear him talking more with Mark about improv on Pretty Much Pop. You can read more about Hume on miracles on the PEL blog. Image cribbed from ArtsyMomma. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma! Sponsors: Visit betterhelp.com/improv to be matched with a licensed, professional therapist. Learn about St. John’s College at sjc.edu/improv.

Who stole Carmine’s lunch? I think you know. Are there only a certain number of “logical” directions from one idea to another? Are there no mistakes, or are there mistakes that know? This week’s image (which definitely has an eye in it) cribbed from Child’s Own. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff (like the post-game featured on this episode) and good karma!

Are so-called “material objects” really just a scam? These two cut-ups (Bill and Mark) cut up the world in various ways, showing you how to teach, how to act, and how to haggle.  Learn more about Berkeley’s idealism with PEL #89. Image by Sam (called “Sharp Dressed Man”). Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!

Beauty is cool, but is art always aiming at beauty? Generations disagree about their music. Snakes disagree about how much they should worry. Image by 3rd grader Ariana; google says the image is somewhere on this page. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!

Bill gets really real, with his unlogical emotions. When we feel things, do we know why? Is there a why? Image found in a serious academic paper to reflect the seriousness (the snapped bra strap is merely implied). Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!

Bill gets to have the power of live and death, with a bit of moral luck. Is he enthused? Image found on twitter by a kid told to draw a fruit salad. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma! Sponsor: Learn about St. John’s college at sjc.edu/improv.

Turkeys speculate in a game scene. Are they reasonable and/or jive turkeys? Then, geometry is subject to ad hominem attack in an instructive relationship scene. Image by Ava from this site. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!

Why is lying wrong? Scene conceptions clash. It is hard to lie in a pretend scene, because the pretending is already a lie. You can lie inside-out or outside-in. The relevant PEL episode to find out about Kant on lying is #10. Image cribbed from this article. Just look at that goddamned liar in the middle of the picture His deceit is captured perfectly! Audio editing by Tyler Hislop. Hear more PvI. Support the podcast to get bonus stuff and good karma!