Massimo Pigliucci's Blog, page 8

Should academics be political activists?

Noam Chomsky (left) and Jonathan Haidt (right). Images from Wikimedia, CC license.

Something has been bothering me for some time now. And one good use of writing is to tackle issues one is not clear about, because we are forced to read more carefully in order to write as clearly as possible. Clear writing only comes from clear thinking. So here it goes.

The issue in question is whether academics should also be political activists. If you think the answer is straightforward, I hope you will think a...

On elections

Image from arkvalleyvoice.com, CC license.

Tomorrow, November 5th, 2024, will be the day citizens of the United States will choose a new president. Both sides seem to think that this election will be historical, one way or the other. Both claim that the American democratic experiment itself is at stake. Both think the other side is garbage or evil. The rest of the world is also very much interested in the outcome, because the US—for good or otherwise—still has an outsized influence on what happen...

Plato on knowledge as the source of happiness

“I put my questions to Lysis: ‘I suppose, Lysis, your father and mother love you very much?’

‘Of course,’ he replied.

‘Then they’d want you to be as happy as possible?’

‘Naturally.’

‘Do you think that a man is happy when he’s a slave and allowed to do nothing he desires?’

‘Heavens, no, I don’t,’ he said.

‘Then if your father and mother love you and desire your happiness, it’s absolutely clear that they must do their best to make you happy.’

‘Of course,’ he said.

‘So they let you do what you want and don...

Video chat: Josiah Osgood on how to be a bad emperor

Welcome to another entry in our 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 Josiah Osgood, a historian of Rome who researches the fall of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. His first book, Caesar’s Legacy (Cambridge University Press, 2006) explores the civil war that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar and its memorialization in literature. In subsequ...

Practice like a Stoic: 33, Set up social rules for living

Image from picpedia.org, CC license.

[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 th...

Epicurus on why we need science

“We would have no need for natural science unless we were worried by apprehensiveness regarding the heavenly bodies, by anxiety about the meaning of death, and also by our failure to understand the limitations of pain and desire.

It is impossible to get rid of our anxieties about essentials if we do not understand the nature of the universe. … Hence it is impossible to enjoy our pleasures unadulterated without natural science. …

There is no advantage in gaining security with regard to other people...

Suggested Readings

From “Transhumanism and misanthropy,” Daily Philosophy.

Transhumanism and misanthropy. I recently saw a graffito announcing 'Humanity sucks!' Without knowing what the artist meant, one can imagine. The human world as we know it is a world of violence, greed, selfishness, and zealous self-destructiveness. Inequality, hatred, and indifference corrupt our treatment of other people. Brutality and exploitativeness stain our treatment of billions of animals. Global heating, philistine assaults on the a...

Practice like a Stoic: 32, Practice Stoic sympathy stealthily

Soapbox, Wikipedia, CC license.

[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 the boo...

Epictetus on people with a hardened reasoning faculty

“If a man resists truths that are all too evident, in opposing him it is not easy to find an argument by which one may cause him to change his opinion. The reason for this is neither the man’s ability nor the teacher’s weakness; nay, when a man who has been trapped in an argument hardens to stone, how shall one any longer deal with him by argument? …

Do your senses tell you that you are awake? ‘No,’ he answers, ‘any more than they do when in dreams I have the impression that I am awake.’ Is there...

Some thoughts on Effective Altruism

Peter Singer giving a TED talk on Effective Altruism, image from ted.com, CC license.

Effective Altruism (EA), both the movement and the concept underlying it, has been around now for about one and a half decade and has generated plenty of both enthusiasm and criticism. So I thought it may be time to write about it, in order primarily to help myself get more clear on what the fuss is all about. I hope the following considerations will also be helpful to my readers and stimulate some thought and d...