Massimo Pigliucci#Rationally Speaking

Pigliucci was born in Monrovia, Liberia and raised in Rome. He has a doctorate in genetics from the University of Ferrara, a PhD in biology from the University of Connecticut, and a PhD in philosophy of science from the University of Tennessee.{{cite web |url=http://www.lehman.edu/deanhum/philosophy/platofootnote/PlatoFootnote.org/Plato_files/bio.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806205207/http://www.lehman.edu/deanhum/philosophy/platofootnote/PlatoFootnote.org/Plato_files/bio.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-08-06 |title=Massimo Pigliucci – Short Bio }} He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Pigliucci was formerly a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University. He explored phenotypic plasticity, genotype–environment interactions, natural selection, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms.{{cite web |url=http://www.lehman.edu/deanhum/philosophy/platofootnote/PlatoFootnote.org/Papers.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805080631/http://www.lehman.edu/deanhum/philosophy/platofootnote/PlatoFootnote.org/Papers.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-08-05 |title=Massimo Pigliucci – Selected Papers }} In 1997, while working at the University of Tennessee, Pigliucci received the Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize,{{cite web |url=http://www.evolutionsociety.org/awards.htm |title=Society for the Study of Evolution – Description of Awards |access-date=2009-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025120243/http://www.evolutionsociety.org/awards.htm |archive-date=2015-10-25 |url-status=dead }} awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding young evolutionary biologist. As a philosopher, Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion.{{r|ShortBio}} He is a proponent of an extended evolutionary synthesis to unify parts of biology not covered by the "modern synthesis" of the 20th century.Wade, Michael J. (2011). [https://archive.today/20151121173101/http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/5/407.full "The Neo-Modern Synthesis: The Confluence of New Data and Explanatory Concepts"] BioScience 61: 407–408.

Pigliucci has written regularly for Skeptical Inquirer on topics such as climate change denial, intelligent design, pseudoscience, and philosophy.{{cite web |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |url=http://www.csicop.org/author/massimopigliucci/ |title=Massimo Pigliucci |access-date=2013-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121034426/http://www.csicop.org/author/massimopigliucci/ |archive-date=2015-11-21 |url-status=dead }} He has also written for Philosophy Now and maintains a blog called "Rationally Speaking".{{Cite web|url=http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/|title=Rationally Speaking|website=rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com|access-date=2009-06-05|archive-date=2020-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820050149/http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com//|url-status=live}} He has debated "deniers of evolution" (young-earth creationists and intelligent design proponents), including young earth creationists Duane Gish and Kent Hovind and intelligent design proponents William Dembski and Jonathan Wells, on many occasions.{{cite news | url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/audio/606-evolution-debate-pigliucci-vs-hovind | title=Evolution Debate – Pigliucci vs Hovind | publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science | date=January 31, 2007 | access-date=2012-12-16 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611133833/http://old.richarddawkins.net/audio/606-evolution-debate-pigliucci-vs-hovind | archive-date=June 11, 2013 }}{{cite web|title=CV of William Dembski|url=http://designinference.com/dembski-on-intelligent-design/dembski-curriculum-vitae-resume/|access-date=1 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150126235408/http://designinference.com/dembski-on-intelligent-design/dembski-curriculum-vitae-resume/|archive-date=26 January 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite news | url=http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/2933961.html | title=Evolution and Intelligent Design: Pigliucci vs Wells | publisher=Uncommon Knowledge | date=January 14, 2005 | access-date=2008-07-17 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308173157/http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/2933961.html | archive-date=March 8, 2008 }}

His latest podcast Stoic Meditations{{Cite web|url=https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations|title=Stoic Meditations • A podcast on Anchor|website=Anchor|access-date=2020-06-22|archive-date=2020-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820050158/https://anchor.fm/stoicmeditations/|url-status=live}} consists of readings from the ancient Stoics, followed by his commentary to interpret the reading and put it into context.{{Cite web|url=https://whatisstoicism.com/stoicism-resources/7-best-stoicism-podcasts/|title=The Best Stoicism Podcasts|date=August 14, 2020|access-date=June 22, 2020|archive-date=August 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820050204/https://whatisstoicism.com/stoicism-resources/7-best-stoicism-podcasts//|url-status=live}} File:NECSS 2013 - Rationally Speaking Live with Michael Shermer Julia Galef and Massimo Pigliucci.jpg, Julia Galef and Massimo Pigliucci at NECSS 2013]]

{{for|his views on the Search for extraterrestrial intelligence|Search for extraterrestrial intelligence#Massimo Pigliucci}}

Pigliucci is an atheist,{{cite web |url=http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2008/08/excommunicated-by-atheists.html |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |date=18 August 2008 |title=Excommunicated by the Atheists! |access-date=5 June 2009 |archive-date=20 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820050152/http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2008/08/excommunicated-by-atheists.html/ |url-status=live }} but does not believe that science necessarily demands atheism, because of two distinctions: that between methodological naturalism and philosophical naturalism, and that between value judgements and matters of fact. He believes that many scientists and science educators fail to appreciate these differences. Pigliucci has criticized New Atheist writers for embracing what he considers to be scientism (although he largely excludes philosopher Daniel Dennett from this charge).{{cite journal |author=Pigliucci, M. |year=2013 |title=New Atheism and the Scientistic Turn in the Atheism Movement |journal=Midwest Studies in Philosophy |volume=37 |number=1 |pages=142–153 |url=http://philpapers.org/archive/PIGNAA.pdf |doi=10.1111/misp.12006 |access-date=2013-12-19 |archive-date=2020-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820050154/https://philpapers.org/archive/PIGNAA.pdf |url-status=live }} In a discussion of his book Answers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to a More Meaningful Life, Pigliucci told Skepticality 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."{{cite web|last=Colanduno|first=Derek|author-link=Derek Colanduno|title=Should You Answer Aristotle?|url=http://www.skepticality.com/should-you-answer-aristotle/|work=Skepticality Podcast|publisher=Skeptic Magazine|access-date=14 May 2014|format=Audio|date=13 February 2013|archive-date=20 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820050156/http://www.skepticality.com/should-you-answer-aristotle//|url-status=live}}

Pigliucci describes the mission of skeptics, referencing Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World saying "What skeptics are about is to keep that candle lit and spread it as much as possible".{{cite podcast |url=http://skepticzone.libsyn.com/webpage/2010/09 |title=The Skeptic Zone #101 |host=Richard Saunders |date=24 September 2010 |time=32:50 |access-date=20 July 2014 |archive-date=9 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509023030/http://skepticzone.libsyn.com/webpage/2010/09 |url-status=live }} Pigliucci serves on the board of NYC Skeptics and on the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America.

In 1998, he debated William Lane Craig over the existence of God at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.‘The Craig-Pigliucci Debate: Does God Exist?’, Leadership University, accessed 17 October 2021, http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-pigliucci0.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017134612/http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-pigliucci0.html |date=2021-10-17 }}. Also in 2001 he debated Craig about the same topic.Moreland, J.P. (2013). Debating Christian Theism. US: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0199755431}}.

Massimo Pigliucci criticized the newspaper article by Pope 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."{{cite web |url=http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/dear-pope.html |title=Dear Pope |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |date=20 September 2013 |website=Rationally Speaking |access-date=26 September 2013 |archive-date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927205321/http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/dear-pope.html |url-status=live }}

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 for The New York Times on the topic was one of the most shared articles to date.{{cite web |last1=Pigliucci |first1=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Pigliucci |title=How to be a Stoic |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/how-to-be-a-stoic/ |website=New York Times |access-date=1 August 2019 |date=2015-02-02 |archive-date=2019-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801175914/https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/how-to-be-a-stoic/ |url-status=live }} 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. {{Blockquote|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.{{cite web |title=How to be a Stoic: an Interview with Massimo Pigliucci |url=https://dailystoic.com/massimo-pigliucci-interview/ |website=DailyStoic.com |publisher=Daily Stoic |access-date=1 August 2019 |date=2017-05-09 |archive-date=2019-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801175915/https://dailystoic.com/massimo-pigliucci-interview/ |url-status=live }}}}

In 2021 Pigliucci announced{{cite web| url = https://philosophyasawayoflife.medium.com/beyond-stoicism-an-ongoing-spiritual-cognitive-journey-fa9f51ad809d| title = Beyond Stoicism? An ongoing spiritual-cognitive journey {{!}} by Philosophy as a Way of Life {{!}} Medium| access-date = 2021-11-30| archive-date = 2021-11-30| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211130163721/https://philosophyasawayoflife.medium.com/beyond-stoicism-an-ongoing-spiritual-cognitive-journey-fa9f51ad809d| url-status = live}} 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 ancient Skeptics and Stoics to craft a better way to think about and especially live one’s life."

Pigliucci has criticized David Chalmers' hard problem of consciousness, and he similarly is a critic of panpsychism. 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 a category error.{{cite web |last1=Pigliucci |first1=Massimo |title=What Hard Problem? |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/99/What_Hard_Problem |website=Philosophy Now |access-date=1 August 2019 |archive-date=1 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801175916/https://philosophynow.org/issues/99/What_Hard_Problem |url-status=live }}

In August 2000 Pigliucci started a monthly internet column called Rationally Speaking. In August 2005, the column became a blog,{{cite web |url=http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.nl/2005/08/welcome-everyone.html |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |date=1 August 2005 |title=Welcome, everyone! |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=10 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110114711/http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.nl/2005/08/welcome-everyone.html |url-status=live }} where he wrote posts until March 2014.{{cite web |url=http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.nl/2014/03/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-fish.html |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |date=20 March 2014 |title=So long, and thanks for all the fish |access-date=6 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111627/http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.nl/2014/03/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-fish.html |url-status=live }} Starting in February 2010, he co-hosted the bi-weekly Rationally Speaking podcast with Julia Galef, whom he first met at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, held in September 2009.{{Cite episode |url=http://thehumanist.com/multimedia/the-humanist-hour//2013/05/the-humanist-hour-83-julia-galef/ |title=Julia Galef |last=Stiefel |first=Todd |last2=Metskas |first2=Amanda K. |series=The Humanist Hour |number=083 |format=podcast |publisher=The Humanist |date=22 May 2013 |access-date=3 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402101104/http://thehumanist.com/multimedia/the-humanist-hour//2013/05/the-humanist-hour-83-julia-galef/ |url-status=live }} 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 book Space Chronicles as a full chapter covering eight pages.{{cite book |last=Culp |first=Jennifer |date=2014 |title=Neil DeGrasse Tyson |series=Great Science Writers Series |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |page=74 |isbn=978-1477776926 }} Another episode in which Tyson explained his position on the label "atheism" received attention on NPR.{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/12/08/369356881/what-if-atheists-were-defined-by-their-actions |title=What If Atheists Were Defined By Their Actions? |last=Lombrozo |first=Tania |publisher=NPR |date=8 December 2014 |access-date=4 March 2015 |archive-date=27 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227215613/http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/12/08/369356881/what-if-atheists-were-defined-by-their-actions |url-status=live }} Pigliucci left the podcast in 2015 to pursue his other interests. Galef continued to host the podcast solo.{{cite podcast|url=http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs128-5th-anniversary-live-show.html|title=RS128 – 5th Anniversary Live Show|website=Rationally Speaking|publisher=New York City Skeptics|host=Pigliucci, Massimo and Galef, Julia|date=27 February 2015|access-date=20 October 2015|archive-date=9 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809050211/http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs128-5th-anniversary-live-show.html|url-status=dead}}

File:Philosophy of Pseudoscience.jpg

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |author1=Schlichting, Carl |author2=Pigliucci, Massimo |title=Phenotypic evolution : a reaction norm perspective |location=Sunderland, Mass. |publisher=Sinauer |year=1998}}
• {{cite book | last=Pigliucci | first=Massimo | year=2000 | title=Tales of the Rational: Skeptical Essays About Nature and Science | edition=1st | location=Atlanta, Ga. | publisher=Freethought Press |quote=A series of essays on atheism, straw-man arguments, creationism and the like|isbn=9781887392112|oclc=45568611}}
• {{cite book | last=Pigliucci | first=Massimo | year=2001 | title=Phenotypic Plasticity: Beyond Nature and Nurture | location=Baltimore | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|quote =A technical volume on research concerning nature and nurture questions}}
• Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. (Sinauer, 2002) {{ISBN|0-87893-659-9}}: This book covers the evolution-creation controversy, better science teaching, and why people have difficulties with critical thinking.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=g9pVvz8hU_sC Phenotypic Integration] (Oxford University Press, 2003) {{ISBN|0195160436}}: A collection of technical essays on the evolution of complex biological organs.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=oXwFPKnVZskC Making Sense of Evolution] (with Jonathan Kaplan, University of Chicago Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-226-66837-6}}): A philosophical examination of the fundamental concepts of evolutionary theory and practice.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4ywPwAACAAJ Evolution: The Extended Synthesis] (with Gerd B. Muller, MIT Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0262513678}})
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=aC8Baky2qTcC Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk] (University of Chicago Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-226-66786-7}}): This book presents a number of case studies on controversial topics in order to examine how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society.
• [https://books.google.com/books/about/Answers_for_Aristotle.html?id=laZensALMSgC Answers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to a More Meaningful Life] (Basic Books, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-465-02138-3}})
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=Pc4OAAAAQBAJ Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem] (with Maarten Boudry, eds., University of Chicago Press, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0226051963}})
• How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (Basic Books, 2017, {{ISBN|978-0465097951}})
• A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control{{snd}}52 Week-by-Week Lessons (The Experiment, 2019, {{ISBN|978-1615195336}})
• The Stoic Guide to a Happy Life: 53 Brief Lessons for Living (Basic Books, 2020, {{ISBN|978-1541646933}})

{{refend}}

The following are a select few of Pigliucci's articles. Some may be found at the Internet Infidels' Secular Web.

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal |author-mask=0 |last1=Pigliucci |first1=M. |title=Is evolutionary psychology a pseudoscience? |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=23–24 |year=2006 |url=https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2006/03/22164612/p23.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=2021-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909220407/https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2006/03/22164612/p23.pdf }}
• {{cite journal |author-mask=0 |last1=Pigliucci |first1=M. |title=Science and fundamentalism |journal=EMBO Reports |volume=6 |issue=12 |pages=1106–1109 |year=2005 |doi=10.1038/sj.embor.7400589 |pmid=16319954 |pmc=1369219 }}
• {{cite journal |author-mask=0 |last1=Pigliucci |first1=M. |title=The power and perils of metaphors in science |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=20–21 |year=2005 }}
• {{cite journal |author-mask=0 |last1=Pigliucci |first1=M. |title=What is philosophy of science good for? |journal=Philosophy Now |volume=44 |pages=45 |date=January–February 2004 |url=http://philosophynow.org/issues/44/What_is_Philosophy_of_Science_Good_For}}
• {{cite journal |vauthors=Pigliucci M, Banta J, Bossu C, etal |title=The alleged fallacies of evolutionary theory |journal=Philosophy Now |volume=46 |pages=36–39 |date=May–June 2004 |url=http://philosophynow.org/issues/46/The_Alleged_Fallacies_of_Evolutionary_Theory}}
• "The Virtuous Skeptic". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (2): 54–57. 2017

{{refend}}

Additional articles can be found on his websites (see "External links" below).

20110409-542-NECSS2011.jpg|Pigliucci speaking at NECSS 2011

Massimo Pigliucci CSICon 2018 The Variety of Scientists and the Limitations of Science.jpg|Pigliucci speaking at CSICon 2018

Het Denkgelag ‘The Limits of Science’.jpg|Daniel Dennett, Pigliucci and Lawrence Krauss on a debate about "The Limits of Science"

Rationally Speaking Live at NECSS 2015.JPG|Pigliucci and Julia Galef at NECSS 2015 during the last Rationally Speaking episode they co-hosted together

{{reflist|2|refs=

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{{Library resources box|by=yes

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• {{commons category-inline|Massimo Pigliucci}}
• {{Official website|https://massimopigliucci.org/}}
• [https://thephilosophygarden.substack.com/ The Philosophy Garden: Stoicism and Beyond] - Pigliucci's Substack (active as of December 2, 2024)
• [https://www.patreon.com/m/MassimoPigliucci Massimo Pigliucci's new blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620162343/https://www.patreon.com/m/MassimoPigliucci |date=June 20, 2020 }} on Patreon
• [http://www.platofootnote.org/ Plato's Footnote] – One of Pigliucci's former blogs
• [https://howtobeastoic.wordpress.com/ How to be a Stoic] – One of Pigliucci's former blogs
• [https://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/ Rationally Speaking] – blog by Pigliucci about skepticism and humanism
• [http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.com Dr. Pigliucci's] Rationally Speaking Podcast
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20010423134451/http://www.secweb.org/bookstore/author.asp?AuthorID=6 Massimo Pigliucci] on Secular Web
• [http://www.philosophyandtheoryinbiology.org Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology]
• {{Google Scholar id|DJSmIwoAAAAJ}}
• {{IMDb name|nm6572236}}

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