Episode 169: Massimo Pigliucci

Philosophy
Written By Michael LaBlanc

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It’s Never Too Late To Examine Your Philosophy of Life

When Greg found out that Massimo Pigliucci had a  PhD in biology and a PhD in philosophy, he knew that this was somebody he had to get on the show.

Massimo Pigliucci has a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee, and is currently the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and practical philosophies like Stoicism and New Skepticism.

At last count, Prof. Pigliucci has published 176 technical papers in science and philosophy. He is also the author or editor of 16 books, including the best selling “How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life,” “Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk,” and the most recent “The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches Us about Our Search for Good Leaders.”

Massimo and Greg dig into where morality might come from in a scientific way, the decisions that lead to our lifestyle choices, and “doing your own research.” 

Episode Quotes:

Misconceptions about philosophy

“When people think about philosophy, they think about really complex, abstract process of thinking. But the choices you make on a day-to-day basis, your priorities in life, etc. will be evident to a psychologist, or a behavioral ecologist, or an economist, just by observing what you do. Right? And those choices will reflect an underlying set of values and priorities, which is what I would call a philosophy of life and everyone has it.”

Science & philosophy are interconnected

“I used the word "Sci-Phi" to signify that science and philosophy need to work together to give us the best understanding of not only the world, as it is and as it works. But also how we should behave and what we should do about our lives.”

There are different paths to living a good life

“So what an expert can do, is to provide you with options and say, okay, so if your question is how to live a good life as a human being, how to figure out the best way to spend your life, how to figure out your priorities and things like that. There are a number of options. And I, as an expert, can present you with those options and can walk you through those options. But I can't tell you which one you should choose because they are equivalent, meaning there are different paths to living a good life.”

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Michael LaBlanc
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