31 min listen
E45. "Bill And The Tooth Fairy" - When is it wrong to have a sincerely held belief?
E45. "Bill And The Tooth Fairy" - When is it wrong to have a sincerely held belief?
ratings:
Length:
53 minutes
Released:
May 31, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Named “Top 20 Philosophy Podcast” for 2021!STORY SUMMARY: (Not suitable for children.) Bill believes in the Tooth Fairy. He is 28 years old. His girlfriend finds this odd, and sometimes socially awkward, but otherwise harmless. This changes, however, when Bill has his wisdom teeth removed and places them under his pillow with the expectation that the Tooth Fairy will accept his offering and provide him her payment as her showing of appreciation. To appease his belief system, Bill’s girlfriend decides to take the teeth and leave Bill some money, but unknowingly does not leave him payment in the “right” amount. Bill interprets this to mean the Tooth Fairy is unhappy with his offering of teeth and tries leaving a tooth from a denture. The tooth fairy never comes. Frustrated, Bill knocks out his own teeth so as to make another, and what he sees as proper, offering. DISCUSSION: Interesting story about how we decide what belief systems are acceptable, and unacceptable. Why is a belief in the tooth fairy more or less valid than one in God, the Devil, or that professional wrestling is real. Do we have a duty to be permissible of all other beliefs? Should we work to actively dispel them? Is it enabling a belief when we say nothing or simply say all ideas have value?BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here.MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions.SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon.FOLLOW: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
Released:
May 31, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (71)
E4. "This I Do For You" - Can you be a hero, if you didn’t know you volunteered?: “Can you be a hero, if you didn’t know you volunteered?” Kolby, Jeremy, and Ashley discuss the ethics and morality of the choices made in the short story "This I Do For You" by Margaret Karmazin. by Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Discussions