Table Of ContentA Very Bad Wizard
In the fi rst edition of A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain—Nine
Conversations, philosopher Tamler Sommers talked with an interdisciplinary
group of the world’s leading researchers—from the fi elds of social psychology,
moral philosophy, cognitive science, and primatology—all working on the
same issue: the origins and workings of morality. Together, these nine
interviews pulled back some of the curtain, not only on our moral lives but—
through Sommers’ probing, entertaining, and well informed questions—on the
way morality traditionally has been studied.
This Second Edition increases the subject matter, adding eight additional
interviews and offering features that will make A Very Bad Wizard more useful
in undergraduate classrooms. These features include structuring all chapters
around sections and themes familiar in a course in ethics or moral psychology;
providing follow-up podcasts for some of the interviews, which will delve into
certain issues from the conversations in a more informal manner; including an
expanded and annotated reading list with relevant primary sources at the end of
each interview; presenting instructor and student resources online in a
companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/sommers).
The resulting new publication promises to synthesize and make accessible
the latest interdisciplinary research to offer a brand new way to teach
philosophical ethics and moral psychology.
Tamler Sommers is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Houston. His research focuses on moral responsibility, revenge, honor, and the
philosophy of punishment. He is the author of Relative Justice: Cultural
Diversity, Free Will and Moral Responsibility (2012) and co-host of the Very
Bad Wizards podcast. He is currently writing a book in defense of honor.
“The study of morality is the most exciting game in town, and when people ask
me why I think so, I always refer them to Tamler Sommers’s extraordinary
book, A Very Bad Wizard! This new edition even tops the fi rst edition, and it
brims with witty, insightful, and fascinating conversations with the best moral
psychologists and moral philosophers of our times.”
Edouard Machery, University of Pittsburgh, USA
“Sommers’s interview style cuts straight to the heart of a wide range of issues
in morality and psychology. Not only does Sommers offer clear and crisp
challenges to many of philosophy’s leading fi gures, but he manages to do so in
a way that brings these issues to light for any intelligent layperson. Sommers
covers topics ranging from free will, justice and objectivity in morality, to
meaning in life, honor, and the morality of violence. In doing so, he is providing
an invaluable service to philosophy and related areas like social psychology by
pushing today’s best thinkers to answer the tough questions, and all the while
bringing philosophy to life for a wider audience. Tamler Sommers is not just a
very bad wizard, he is a very badass wizard!”
Michael McKenna, University of Arizona, USA
“Sommers’ interviews are easygoing but sharp and critically engaged. He
knows how to bring out what’s most interesting in his subjects, and he also
presses them in just the right ways. The line-up of interviewees includes many
of the brightest lights in moral philosophy, each with a rich and provocative
body of work to discuss, and this second edition’s additions are fi rst-rate. While
this would be excellent background reading for students in a variety of ethics
courses, it’s actually entertaining and enlightening reading for anyone interested
in gaining access to some of the very best contemporary work in moral
philosophy.”
David Shoemaker, Tulane University, USA
“This clever and thoughtful book makes ethics come alive by ditching dry
philosophical prose and opting instead to let real human voices speak for
themselves. The range of topics is impressive, the interviews are probing yet
accessible, and the author is an eminently likable guide to the terrain. I teach
this book in my intro to ethics course, and the only disappointment is not having
time for my students to read the whole thing. It allows students to see thinkers
in the process of thinking, and to appreciate what charitable and constructive
philosophical conversation looks like.”
Neal Tognazzini, Western Washington University, USA
A Very Bad Wizard
Morality Behind the Curtain
Second Edition
Tamler Sommers
First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of Tamler Sommers to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by McSweeney’s 2009
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Sommers, Tamler, 1970- author. Title: A very bad wizard :
morality behind the curtain / Tamler Sommers. Description: Second
Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2016. Identifi ers: LCCN 2015044502 |
ISBN 9780415855723 | ISBN 9780415858793 Subjects: LCSH: Ethics.
| Psychology and philosophy. | Philosophers--Interviews. Classifi cation:
LCC BJ45 .S64 2016 | DDC 170--dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044502
ISBN: 978-0-415-85572-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-85879-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-70890-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
Contents
Researchers Interviewed vii
Foreword to the Second Edition by David Pizarro xi
Preface to the First Edition xv
Preface to the Second Edition xvii
Acknowledgments xix
A Note about the Interviews xxi
PART I
Free to Be You and Me? Maybe Not 1
Introduction 1
1 Galen Strawson: You Cannot Make Yourself the Way
You Are 3
2 Philip Zimbardo: The Power of the Situation 17
PART II
The Big Questions: Virtue, Honor, Meaning, and the
Good Life 39
Introduction 39
3 Valerie Tiberius: The Good Life 41
4 Susan Wolf: Meaning and Objectivity 59
5 Nancy Sherman: Navigating Our Moral Worlds 78
6 William Ian Miller: Codes of Honor 95
7 Kwame Anthony Appiah: Honor and Moral Progress 112
vi Contents
PART III
Metaethics: The Status of Morality 131
Introduction 131
8 Michael Ruse: The Illusion of Objectivity in Ethics 133
9 Peter Singer: A Gadfl y for the Greater Good 146
10 Simon Blackburn: Beyond the Knave 161
PART IV
Morality Behind the Curtain 183
Introduction 183
11 Frans de Waal: Lessons from Our Primate Relatives 185
12 Jonathan Haidt: Comfortably Dumbfounded 200
13 Paul Bloom: Reason Restored 214
14 Joseph Henrich: Relative Justice 235
15 Alan Fiske and Tage Rai: The Morality of Violence 253
16 Stephen Stich: “I Walk the Line” 272
17 Joshua Greene and Liane Young: Trolley Problems 294
Glossary 308
Index 314
Researchers Interviewed
Kwame Anthony Appiah is Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York
University. His research spans many topics in ethics and political
philosophy, often pulling from both African and African-American
intellectual and literary work. Most recently, he has focused on the role of
ideals and idealization in politics. His most recent book, W. E. B. Du Bois
and the Emergence of Identity synthesizes many of these themes.
Simon Blackburn is Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge University. His research in ethics typically defends metaethical
quasi-realism and neo-Humean moral psychology. In his most recent book,
Mirror, Mirror: the Uses and Abuses of Self-Love, he tours the history of
philosophy to evaluate themes of narcissism, vanity, and self-love.
Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at
Yale University. His research focuses on developmental and moral
psychology, especially of children and adults navigating the world of
values. Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, his most recent book,
argues that infants have an early sense of goodness, empathy, and justice,
as well as hostility toward strangers, parochial tendencies, and bigotry. He
expands the account of reason by focusing on how it affects moral
deliberation.
Alan Fiske is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los
Angeles. His research focuses on the psychology, anthropology, and
neurobiology of human social and moral relationships. His most recent
book, Virtuous Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and
Honor Social Relationships, co-authored with Tage Shakti Rai, analyzes
the many motivations of violence in literature, across cultures, and in
contemporary contexts.
Joshua Greene is Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. His
research focuses on issues in moral psychology, especially as informed by
neuroimaging studies. His recent book, Moral Tribes, combines research
from psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy to analyze moral confl ict.
viii Researchers Interviewed
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and Thomas Cooley Professor of
Ethical Leadership at the NYU Stern School of Business. He is the author
of The Happiness Hypothesis and The Righteous Mind.
Joseph Henrich is joint Professor of Psychology and Economics at the
University of British Columbia. He also directs the Centre for Human
Evolution, Cognition, and Culture. He researches evolutionary approaches
to psychology and decision-making, pay special attention to the effects of
culture. His most recent books are the 2014 Experimenting with Social
Norms: Fairness and Punishment in Cross-Cultural Perspective and
forthcoming The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human
Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter.
William Ian Miller is the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law at the
University of Michigan. He is the author of numerous books including Why
is Your Axe Bloody? A Reading of the Njal’s Saga, Eye for an Eye,
Humiliation, and The Mystery of Courage.
Tage Rai is Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Ford Center for Global
Citizenship at Northwestern University. His work explores the effects of
society and culture on moral judgments. In his most recent book, Virtuous
Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and Honor Social
Relationships, co-authored with Alan Fiske, analyzes the many motivations
of violence in literature, across cultures, and in contemporary contexts.
Michael Ruse is Lucycle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida
State University, where he also directs the History and Philosophy of
Science Program. Ruse draws extensively from the work of Charles
Darwin, as in his 2008 book Refl ections on the Origin of Species, and he
extrapolates the implication of evolutionary theory for morality and
religion, as in his 2006 book The Evolution-Creation Struggle.
Nancy Sherman is University Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown
University and Fellow of the Kennedy Institute. Her research explores the
implications of ancient Greek philosophy on contemporary topics like war
and moral psychology. Her most recent book, Afterwar: Healing the Moral
Wounds of Our Soldiers, argues that philosophy and moral analysis should
supplement medical and psychological services to help veterans heal after
war.
Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the Princeton
University’s Center for Human Values. His research focuses on many
issues in ethics, from applied utilitarian philosophy in the domains of
animal rights and the alleviation of world poverty to moral psychology. His
most recent book, The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is
Changing Ideas about Living Ethically challenges the reader to enact
effective change to a maximal degree by donating money, organs, and
expertise.
Researchers Interviewed ix
Stephen Stich is the Board of Governors Professor in the Philosophy
Department at Rutgers University. He is the author of numerous books
including The Fragmentation of Reason, Deconstructing the Mind, and
Knowledge, Rationality and Morality: Collected Papers.
Galen Strawson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at
Austin. His research explores metaphysical and moral psychological topics
in the philosophy of mind, often borrowing insights from Locke, Hume,
Kant, and Nietzsche. His most recent books are Locke on Personal Identity,
and a second edition of The Secret Connexion: Realism, Causation, and
David Hume.
Valerie Tiberius is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at
the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She researches many themes in
moral psychology, focusing especially on theories of wellbeing and
refl ection. In her book, The Refl ective Life: Living Wisely with Our Limits,
she develops an account of wisdom tied to moral refl ection that analyzes
the things that make life valuable, our own intrinsic limits, and how we can
live well by refl ecting on the right things, just the right amount.
Frans de Waal is C. H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory
University and Distinguished Professor at the Utrecht University. He
researches primate behavior to elucidate the foundation and formation of
moral emotions and religious belief, as in his 2009 book, The Age of
Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society, and his 2013 book, The
Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism among the Primates.
Susan Wolf is Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research in ethics usually
connects with interests in philosophy of mind, political theory, and
aesthetics. Her most recent book, The Variety of Values: Essays on
Morality, Meaning, and Love exhibits her philosophical range.
Liane Young is Associate Professor of Psychology at Boston College. Her
work confronts many topics in moral psychology, mostly pulling from
contemporary neuroscientifi c and experimental psychological studies. Her
most recent studies have looked at various aspects of cognition, evaluation,
and norm violation in cases of purity, disgust, and sexuality.
Philip Zimbardo is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University.
He conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment and has investigated
psychological theories of madness, manipulation, and authority. His book,
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, chronicles
his experiments and explores these themes. Most recently, his work has
focused on time, as in The Time Paradox: the New Psychology of Time that
Will Change Your Life, and the effects of technology on manhood, as in
Man (Dis)connected: How technology has sabotaged what it means to be
male.
