Reasoned Intuitions: Recent Episodes
David Tonner
Reasoned Intuitions is a podcast hosted by David Tonner, a world traveller who delves into personal intuitions and reflections on various moral issues in modern society.
As the title suggests, Reasoned Intuitions is going on an indefinite hiatus. Thank you to everyone who supported the podcast, and please stay in touch:
david.tonner@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/ReasonedIntuitions
https://www.facebook.com/dtonner
In this episode, David discusses how every decision humans make consists of a cost-benefit analysis. He also looks at what constitutes a sacrifice and what only appears like one. Finally, he suggests a few reasons why making ethical choices is difficult for most people.
Contents:- Cost-benefit analysis
- Thinking, Fast and Slow
- Examples
- Sacrifice
- Sacrifice: long-term
- It's only a sacrifice if it's difficult
-Joy/suffering scale
- Why it's difficult for people to make tough ethical choices
- If blood donation was painful
- Is David a moral monster?
Links:Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow
Cost-benefit analysis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost%E2%80%93benefit_analysis
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083209401005
https://www.facebook.com/dtonner
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reasoned_intuitions/
https://www.instagram.com/tonner_david/
In the last of a three-part series about animals, David discusses ideal ways that we should interact with animals if our intention is to cause minimal harm.
Contents:- introduction
- 4 categories of matter
- what is life?
- consciousness
- interaction with animals
- difficult questions
- René Descartes
- Thomas Nagel
Links:Taxonomic rank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomic_rank
Theory of Mind
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind
I think, therefore I am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito,_ergo_sum
What is it like to be a bat?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_It_Like_to_Be_a_Bat%3F
Wild Animal Initiative
https://www.wildanimalinitiative.org/
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083209401005
https://www.facebook.com/dtonner
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reasoned_intuitions/
https://www.instagram.com/tonner_david/
In this episode, David talks about sport hunting—the practice of chasing after and killing animals for pleasure, and explores two questions:
1. Is sport hunting morally permissible?
2. Is sport hunting bad overall and in every way?
Contents:- introduction
- what is sport?
- what is hunting?
- sport hunting
- questions to consider
- fair chase
- the altruistic hunter
- catch-and-release
- moral compass
- a necessary evil?
- alternatives and ways forward
Links:Fair chase
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_chase My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083209401005
https://www.facebook.com/dtonner
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reasoned_intuitions/
https://www.instagram.com/tonner_david/
In this episode, David discusses the ways in which humans keep and use animals, the way this has changed over time, the moral implications of animal captivity, and possible ways forward.
Contents:
- introduction
- animals as resources
- animals as labour-saving devices
- pets–domesticated
- pets–wild
- animals for research
- animals for entertainment
- counterarguments
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083209401005
https://www.facebook.com/dtonner
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reasoned_intuitions/
https://www.instagram.com/tonner_david/
In this episode, David discusses the differences and similarities between words and actions and puts forward the notion that we are morally responsible for our words and the way they affect others.
Contents:
- introduction
- differences between actions and words
- similarities
- objections
- moral responsibility
- morality
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083209401005
https://www.facebook.com/dtonner
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reasoned_intuitions/
https://www.instagram.com/tonner_david/
Links:
Moral responsibility:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_responsibility
In this episode, David discusses the moral imperative behind the COVID-19 vaccine and how it differs from the seasonal flu vaccine. He talks about cognitive dissonance and finally introduces a theme that will be revisited in a future episode, the cost-benefit analysis.
Contents:
- COVID-19 vaccines
- seasonal flu vaccinations
- Is there a moral imperative to get vaccinated?
- blood donation
- organ donation
- cost-benefit analysis
- cognitive dissonance
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Links:
Cognitive dissonance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Cost-benefit analysis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost%E2%80%93benefit_analysis
Just a brief clip to promote Season 2 of Reasoned Intuitions!
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
In this episode, David delves further into the topic of punishment, looking at an instance of extreme punishment, responsibility versus punishment, what leads people to behave badly, how our sense of self-preservation often skews our better judgement, the instinctual basis of punishment, crime as a form of illness, and ways of raising children without punishment.
Contents:
- The Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) case
- Consequential responsibility versus punitive retribution
- Why do humans make mistakes?
- How does self-preservation cause us to behave badly?
- The instinctual basis of punishment
- Crime as a form of illness
- Punishing children
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Links:
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Elizabeth Holmes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes
Charles Eisenstein article:
https://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/a-restorative-response-to-mh17/
Best book on punishment I've read:
David Boonin – The Problem of Punishment
https://www.amazon.ca/Problem-Punishment-David-Boonin/dp/052170961X
In this episode, David discusses the legal practice of punishing people for misbehaving or breaking laws. He explores the justifications for the practice on a legal, practical, and moral level, and looks at possible ways that punishment could be replaced with better approaches.
Contents:
- Overview and definition of punishment
- Philosophy of punishment
- Justifications for punishment
- Alternatives and ways forward
- Justice
- Reform
- Restorative justice
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Links:
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Restorative justice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice
Best book on punishment I've read:
David Boonin – The Problem of Punishment
https://www.amazon.ca/Problem-Punishment-David-Boonin/dp/052170961X
In this episode, David discusses the pay differences between male and female athletes, focusing specifically on the game of soccer. Currently, men and women, ostensibly playing the same game, are paid very differently. Should this be equalized? If so, why, or why not?
Contents:
- team sports are gendered, meaning that on a professional level, men never play with women.
- similarities to other careers where men earn differently from women
- arguments against pay differences
- arguments for pay differences
- salaries vs. contracts
- a possible way forward
My email address:
david.tonner2010@gmail.com
Links:
Gender pay gap in sports:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_pay_gap_in_sports
Gender pay gap:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_pay_gap
Analysis: What equal pay in sports really means, as the fight goes on for U.S. women's soccer:
https://www.espn.com/espnw/story/_/id/28971949/analysis-equal-pay-sports-really-means-fight-goes-us-women-soccer
In this episode, David ponders whether or not people "deserve" to be happy. Contents:
- Mare of Easttown
- does someone deserve to be happy even when they've done something wrong?
- what is deserving? What is it not?
- just desert
- universal laws, karma, morality
- moral realism/anti-realism
- moral relativism
- who decides what is deserved?
- free will and causal determinism
- moral responsibility/instrumental responsibility
- what about "bad people"?
- parasitism, tumours, insanity
- punishment & justice
Links:
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Mare of Easttown:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_of_Easttown
Just desert:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_(philosophy)
The Moral Landscape:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moral_Landscape
Sean Carroll:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_M._Carroll
Moral realism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_realism
Moral anti-realism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-realism
Moral relativism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism
Causal determinism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism#Causal_determinism
Toxoplasmosis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
In this episode, David talks about radical honesty, or the idea that we should always tell the truth and that any kind of lie is harmful. He discusses:
- Brad Blanton's Radical Honesty
- the television show Lie to Me
- Sam Harris (and Ricky Gervais)
- pros and cons of always telling the truth
- is it possible to be a moral, honest person without always being 100% truthful?
- does David ever lie?
- Golden Rule
- deontology
Links:
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Radical honesty:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_honesty
Lie to Me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie_to_Me
Lying, by Sam Harris:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lying_(Harris_book)
the Golden Rule:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
Deontology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deontology
In this episode, David talks about various illusions, or conceptual frameworks, that everyone operates under, both consciously and unconsciously, including sensory experiences, religious beliefs, nationalism, moral rules, adherence to laws, and the use of money.
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Richard Dawkins quote:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4416-we-are-all-atheists-about-most-of-the-gods-that
Blank slate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa
Evolutionary psychology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology
Direct and indirect realism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_and_indirect_realism
In this episode, David talks about four fundamental values he wishes he had learned while growing up, and why he thinks they are important for children.
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Stromae – Papaoutai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiKj0Z_Xnjc
In this episode, David discusses the way that we place different value on humans and nonhuman animals. Why don't animals get the same rights people do, and is this morally correct?
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Speciecism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciesism
United Kingdom Declares Octopuses, Squids Are Sentient Beings
https://futurism.com/the-byte/united-kingdom-octopus-sentient
Humanism Needs an Upgrade:
https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/07/humanism-needs-an-upgrade-the-philosophy-that-could-save-the-world/
In this episode, David discusses the difference between experiencing life through the various filters humans apply by default, and knowing what objective reality is really like.
Pragmatic ethics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatic_ethics
Red pill and blue pill:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill
The Matrix film:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix
Experience machine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine
Direct and indirect realism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_and_indirect_realism