Massimo Pigliucci's Blog, page 16

Book: The Socratic Method

The Socratic Method: A Practitioner's Handbook, by Ward Farnsworth.

Summary:

About 2,500 years ago, Plato wrote a set of dialogues that depict Socrates in conversation. The way Socrates asks questions, and the reasons why, amount to a whole way of thinking. This is the Socratic method--one of humanity's great achievements. More than a technique, the method is an ethic of patience, inquiry, humility, and doubt. It is an aid to better thinking, and a remedy for bad habits of mind, whether in law, po...

Practice like a Stoic: 10, Act the opposite

A Roman soldier preparing for winter training. Image created by DALL-E.

[This series of posts is based on A Handbook for New Stoics—How to Thrive in a World out of Your Control, co-authored by yours truly and Greg Lopez. It is a collection of 52 exercises, which we propose reader try out one per week during a whole year, to actually live like a Stoic. In Europe/UK the book is published by Rider under the title Live Like A Stoic. Below is this week’s prompt and a brief explanation of the pertinent...

A conversation on Pyrrhonian skepticism

[Me] Let’s have a philosophical dialogue in the style of Plato. You will explain and defend the philosophy of Pyrrhonian skepticism and I will attempt to criticize it. You begin with a very short summary of Pyrrhonism. Please keep your answers brief so that this will be a dialogue, not a lecture on your part.

[Chat] In the spirit of a Platonic dialogue, I shall assume the role of a proponent of Pyrrhonism, a school of skepticism founded by Pyrrho of Elis. 

Greetings, seeker of wisdom. Pyrrhonism, ...

Suggested Readings

Woman with wax tablets and stylus (so-called "Sappho"), Naples Archeological Museum

The fight over academic freedom. Academic freedom is a bedrock of the modern American university. And lately, it seems to be coming under fire from all directions. For many scholars, the biggest danger is at public universities in Republican-controlled states like Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has led the passage of laws that restrict what can be taught and spearheaded efforts to reshape whole institutions. But...

Practice like a Stoic: 9, Be careful what you call good and bad

An orange Lamborghini that Massimo spotted recently in the streets of Philadelphia.

[This series of posts is based on A Handbook for New Stoics—How to Thrive in a World out of Your Control, co-authored by yours truly and Greg Lopez. It is a collection of 52 exercises, which we propose reader try out one per week during a whole year, to actually live like a Stoic. In Europe/UK the book is published by Rider under the title Live Like A Stoic. Below is this week’s prompt and a brief explanation of t...

How to stop a conspiracy with Sallust

[Based on How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving a Republic, by Sallust, translated by Josiah Osgood. Full book series here.]

If you need a strong endorsement to move you to read the ancient Roman historian Sallust, here is one:

“You go on, I presume, with your Latin Exercises: and I wish to hear of your beginning upon Sallust who is one of the most polished and perfect of the Roman Historians, every Period of whom, and I had almost said every Syllable and every Letter is worth Study...

Video chat: Richard Bett on ancient Skepticism

Welcome to another entry in an occasional series of video chats with authors and translators who have written about the philosophy, culture, and history of the Greco-Roman tradition.

In this episode I talk to Richard Bett, professor of Ancient Greek philosophy at the University of California—Berkeley. Richard particular focus is on ethics and epistemology. He is the author of Pyrrho, his Antecedents and his Legacy (Oxford, 2000), and of translations of Sextus Empiricus' Against the Ethicists (Oxf...

Practice like a Stoic: 8, Meditate on nature and the cosmos

Pythagorean students greeting the Sun.

[This series of posts is based on A Handbook for New Stoics—How to Thrive in a World out of Your Control, co-authored by yours truly and Greg Lopez. It is a collection of 52 exercises, which we propose reader try out one per week during a whole year, to actually live like a Stoic. In Europe/UK the book is published by Rider under the title Live Like A Stoic. Below is this week’s prompt and a brief explanation of the pertinent philosophical background. Check ...

Plato on floundering in a sea of words

Welcome to Practical Wisdom, a weekly podcast about ancient Greco-Roman philosophy. I am your host, Massimo Pigliucci.

We are back to Plato, and specifically the Laches, one of his early dialogues. The topic, you may remember from episode 29, is the concept of courage. Socrates and two generals, Laches and Nicias, are trying to arrive at a good definition of what courage consists of.

We resume at the point where Laches makes a new suggestion, that courage is endurance accompanied by wisdom. Let’s ...

Recommended Books

The ancient Library of Alexandria, image from short-history.com.

How to Think about God: An Ancient Guide for Believers and Nonbelievers, by Cicero. Most ancient Romans were deeply religious and their world was overflowing with gods--from Jupiter, Minerva, and Mars to countless local divinities, household gods, and ancestral spirits. One of the most influential Roman perspectives on religion came from a nonreligious belief system that is finding new adherents even today: Stoicism. How did the Sto...