Massimo Pigliucci | |
|---|---|
 Pigliucci in 2013 | |
| Born | (1964-01-16)January 16, 1964 (age 61) Monrovia, Liberia |
| Education | |
| Education |
|
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Scientific skepticism,secular humanism,contemporary Stoicism |
| Institutions | City College of New York |
| Main interests | Philosophy of science Philosophy of pseudoscience Relationship between science and religion Demarcation problem |
| Website | Official website |
Massimo Pigliucci (Italian:[ˈmassimopiʎˈʎuttʃi]; born January 16, 1964)[1] is an American philosopher and biologist who is professor ofphilosophy at theCity College of New York,[2] former co-host of theRationally Speaking Podcast,[3] and former editor in chief for the online magazineScientia Salon.[4] He is a critic ofpseudoscience[5][6] (includingcreationism[7]), and an advocate forsecularism andscience education.[8][9] His recent work has focused on stoicism.
Pigliucci was born inMonrovia, Liberia and raised inRome.[1] He has a doctorate ingenetics from theUniversity of Ferrara, a PhD in biology from theUniversity of Connecticut, and a PhD inphilosophy of science from theUniversity of Tennessee.[10] He is a fellow of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science and of theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry.[1]
Pigliucci was formerly a professor ofecology and evolution atStony Brook University. He exploredphenotypic plasticity,genotype–environment interactions,natural selection, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms.[11] In 1997, while working at the University of Tennessee, Pigliucci received theTheodosius Dobzhansky Prize,[12] awarded annually by theSociety for the Study of Evolution[1] to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding young evolutionary biologist. As a philosopher, Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations ofevolutionary theory, therelationship between science and philosophy, and therelationship between science and religion.[10] He is a proponent of anextended evolutionary synthesis to unify parts of biology not covered by the"modern synthesis" of the 20th century.[13]
Pigliucci has written regularly forSkeptical Inquirer on topics such asclimate change denial,intelligent design,pseudoscience, and philosophy.[14] He has also written forPhilosophy Now and maintains a blog called "Rationally Speaking".[15] He has debated "deniers of evolution" (young-earth creationists andintelligent design proponents), including young earth creationistsDuane Gish andKent Hovind and intelligent design proponentsWilliam Dembski andJonathan Wells, on many occasions.[7][16][17][18]
His podcast Stoic Meditations[19] consists of readings from the ancient Stoics, followed by his commentary to interpret the reading and put it into context.[20]
Pigliucci is anatheist,[21] but does not believe that science necessarily demands atheism, because of two distinctions: that betweenmethodological naturalism andphilosophical naturalism, and that betweenvalue judgements and matters of fact. He believes that many scientists and science educators fail to appreciate these differences.[9] Pigliucci has criticizedNew Atheist writers for embracing what he considers to bescientism (although he largely excludes philosopherDaniel Dennett from this charge).[22] In a discussion of his bookAnswers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to a More Meaningful Life, Pigliucci toldSkepticality podcast host Derek Colanduno, "Aristotle was the first ancient thinker to really take seriously the idea that you need both empirical facts, you need an evidence-based approach to the world and you need to be able to reflect on the meaning of those facts... If you want answers to moral questions then you don't ask the neurobiologist, you don't ask the evolutionary biologist, you ask the philosopher."[23]
Pigliucci describes the mission of skeptics, referencingCarl Sagan'sThe Demon-Haunted World saying "What skeptics are about is to keep that candle lit and spread it as much as possible".[24] Pigliucci serves on the board of NYC Skeptics and on the advisory board of theSecular Coalition for America.[8]
In 1998, he debatedWilliam Lane Craig over theexistence of God at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.[25] Also in 2001 he debated Craig about the same topic.[26]
Massimo Pigliucci criticized thenewspaper article byPope Francis entitled, "An open dialogue with non-believers". Pigliucci viewed the article as a monologue rather than a dialogue and, in a response personally addressed to Pope Francis, wrote that the Pope only offered non-believers "a reaffirmation of entirely unsubstantiated fantasies about God and his Son...followed by a confusion between the concept of love and truth, the whole peppered by a significant amount of historical revisionism and downright denial of the ugliest facets of your Church."[27]
Pigliucci became a popularizer of Stoicism and one of the driving forces in Stoicism's resurgence in the United States in the early twenty-first century. His 2015 essay forThe New York Times on the topic was one of the most shared articles to date.[28] Pigliucci said he always felt Stoicism was part of his Italian heritage, but he came to practice it after being disenchanted with Buddhism, though he finds both schools of thought to share similarities.
I actually tried to study Buddhism for a bit, but the parts I managed to get exposed to felt too alien, couched in cultural, linguistic, and conceptual terms that did not resonate with me. By contrast, when I picked up Epictetus, or Marcus, or Seneca, I immediately felt at home.[29]
In 2021 Pigliucci announced[30] a shift of interest away from Stoicism and towards, as he said, "a new synthesis, something that I have called Neoskepticism, and which uses the combined insights of the ancientSkeptics and Stoics to craft a better way to think about and especially live one’s life."
Pigliucci has criticizedDavid Chalmers'hard problem of consciousness, and he similarly is a critic ofpanpsychism. While he is a realist about consciousness, he thinks that claiming there is a distinction between the so called hard and easy problems of consciousness is acategory error.[31]
In August 2000 Pigliucci started a monthly internet column calledRationally Speaking. In August 2005, the column became a blog,[32] where he wrote posts until March 2014.[33] Starting in February 2010, he co-hosted the bi-weeklyRationally Speaking podcast withJulia Galef, whom he first met at theNortheast Conference on Science and Skepticism, held in September 2009.[34] The podcast is produced by the New York City Skeptics. The show has had many guests—scientists, philosophers—discussing matters of reason, skepticism and rationality. In 2010,Neil DeGrasse Tyson explained on the show his justification for spending large amounts of government money on space programs. He eventually printed the transcript of his performance as a guest on the show in his bookSpace Chronicles as a full chapter covering eight pages.[35] Another episode in which Tyson explained his position on the label "atheism" received attention onNPR.[36] Pigliucci left the podcast in 2015 to pursue his other interests. Galef continued to host the podcast solo.[37]
A series of essays on atheism,straw-man arguments, creationism and the like
A technical volume on research concerningnature and nurture questions
The following are a select few of Pigliucci's articles. Some may be found at theInternet Infidels'Secular Web.
Additional articles can be found on his websites (see "External links" below).
| Date | Review article | Work(s) reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | "[Untitled review]". Books.Philosophy Now.95: 44. March–April 2013. | Woodruff, Paul (2011).The Ajax dilemma : justice, fairness, and rewards. New York: Oxford University Press. |
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Media related toMassimo Pigliucci at Wikimedia Commons
