Massimo Pigliucci+

When pseudoscience is in power

The horoscope is near-harmless, until it moves into the ministry

What philosophy promises

The Discourses of Epictetus, 1.15

From the Archive

The Figs in Winter archive is deep, here are some choice bits

How to travel with Herodotus & friends

Part XL of the Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series

Leo XIV’s encyclical on AI

A secular-Stoic analysis of what the Pope has to say about the ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

Forget the good life, try the good day

What the Stoics can teach us about the only unit of life we actually control

The ancient contrast between otium and negotium

How to reclaim time for yourself without fleeing the world

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

The river and the labyrinth – part II

Forget Whitehead’s process metaphysics, let’s get back to Heraclitus instead

The river and the labyrinth – part I

What process philosophy gets right, and where it gets lost

Video: How to be a (happy) Skeptic

Episode 25 of Ars Vivendi: Conversations on the art of living

Vitamin H: the science of happiness is weaker than you think

We’d like to know what really makes people happy, but it’s a hard problem

On contentment

The Discourses of Epictetus, 1.12

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

Two masks, one stage

Stoic role ethics from Panaetius to Epictetus

On self-determination and the limits of pacifism

Why Taiwan and Ukraine are not the same as Scotland and the Basque Country

In the Media

A look at recent public appearances by yours truly

Five allegedly bad “isms” – Part II

Science and ideology: positivism, scientism, and what I actually believe

Five allegedly bad “isms” – Part I

At one point or another I’ve been accused of being one of these. Am I guilty?

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

The Hard Problem is a category mistake

What consciousness and vital force have in common and why it matters

Beyond the Inner Citadel

Ludwig Edelstein and the limits of self-help philosophy

In the Media

A look at recent public appearances by yours truly

On miracles

I mock-debated miracles with a colleague of mine, here’s what happened

The Lion-Man and the birth of the impossible

What a 40,000-year-old figurine tells us about the human mind

Eugenics: bad science, bad ethics, or both?

If we are going to reject an idea, it better be for the right reasons

From the archive

The Figs in Winter archive is deep, here are some choice bits

Physicalism and consciousness — part II

Why smart people resist physicalism, and what I say when they push back

Physicalism and consciousness — part I

What physicalism is, why the evidence supports it, and why the alternatives fail

In the media

A look at recent public appearances by yours truly

Socrates's pupils — part II

The paths of pleasure and logic

Socrates's pupils — part I

How the same teacher inspired hedonists, ascetics, and rationalists

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

Socrates and AI

A case can be made that LLM systems are Socratic in nature. Or not.

The Seven Sages: III–Solon of Salamis

The lawgiver of Athens and ancestor of Plato

Five crucial Stoic ideas

How do they stand up to the scrutiny of modern science and philosophy?

The complex evolution of the Stoic "system"

Stoicism is, and has always been, a living philosophy in the making

What you call gate keeping I call quality control

In defense of quality editors, critics, and peer reviewers

Atheism is not a faith

An open letter to Christopher Beha

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

Did the Greeks steal philosophy from Africa?

On the origins of philosophy and the politics of credit

Book announcement: How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic

My new book comes out soon, take a sneak preview here!

Suggested Readings

A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure

The thousand-year silence

How Stoicism and Epicureanism nearly vanished—and why we got them back

On the proper use of arguments

The Discourses of Epictetus, 1.7