Massimo Pigliucci Quotes

• Given the power and influence that science increasingly has in our daily lives, it is important that we as citizens of an open and democratic society learn to separate good science from bunk. This is not just a matter of intellectual curiosity, as it affects where large portions of our tax money go, and in some cases even whether people’s lives are lost as a result of nonsense.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  People, Intellectual, Curiosity

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• I can't speak for others, but I find the fundamental idea that a life worth living is one during which one strives every day to become a better person to be compelling.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Speak, Better Person, Strive

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• The Stoics thought that a fundamental insight into human life is that some things are up to us and others are not, the famous dichotomy of control. Up to us are our judgments, decisions, and actions; everything else is not up to us, because it is influenced by external factors.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Decision, Action, Judgment

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• Death itself is a natural occurrence, it is unavoidable, and the Stoics thought that part of philosophical practice is to get comfortable with the unavoidable, learning to face it with courage.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Philosophical, Natural

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• What the world needs is more compassion; love in the broad sense, and use of practical reason to solve human problems. What it needs less is ideological and religious fanaticism, of which, unfortunately, there currently is aplenty.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Religious, Compassion, World

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• Often we can change things, and a realistic attitude - including envisioning worse case scenarios - actually helps to accomplish that change. But if you truly cannot do anything about something, then why on earth would you want to make things even worse for you by falling into despair? It seems like adding a self-inflicting injury to the already existing one.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Attitude, Fall, Despair

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• "Fate permitting" is a standard Stoic phrase meant to remind ourselves that planning things is up to us, but the ultimate outcomes are not under our control. It helps us to develop an attitude of equanimity toward the universe. We should very much try to change things for the better, that's the whole point of the Stoic discipline of action.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Attitude, Fate, Discipline

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• If a theory purports to explain everything, then it is likely not explaining much at all.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Theory, Explaining, Ifs

  Massimo Pigliucci (2010). “Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk”, p.2, University of Chicago Press

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• The Stoic discipline of action, which is connected to the virtue of justice, says that we ought to treat others fairly and we should engage in social and political activity. This is further supported by the Stoic idea of cosmopolitanism, and by the famous "circles of concern" identified by Hierocles, who counseled that we should refer to other people as brothers and sisters, to constantly remind ourselves that we are members of the same human family.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Brother, Discipline, People

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• If you are a Christian, you can still practice Stoicism and think of the Logos as the Word of God. If you are a secular person, an agnostic or an atheist, you may treat the Logos as "Einstein's god," that is the factual recognition that the cosmos is ordered according to rational principles, without which science itself wouldn't be possible.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Christian, Atheist, Thinking

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• I believe Stoicism can help anyone who takes it seriously and begins to practice it. It will help them flourish because it will provide them with a compass for navigating life, a general, flexible, framework to set priorities, and a set of techniques to achieve serenity and equanimity.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Believe, Priorities, Serenity

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• We still live in a world of such gross injustice and inequality, that only privileged people like ourselves can afford to think of eros and art as top concerns in life. They are important, for sure, but I think it's high time to shift priorities around, away from selfish indulgence, and toward more concern for the wellbeing of so many others who suffer atrocities, injustice, and famine, all over the planet.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Art, Selfish, Thinking

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• The downside of skepticism: it can easily turn into an arrogant position of a priori rejection of any new phenomenon or idea, a position that is as lacking in critical thinking as the one of the true believer, and that simply does not help either science or the public at large.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Thinking, Ideas, Rejection

  Massimo Pigliucci (2010). “Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk”, p.75, University of Chicago Press

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• ... it is because one can build a compelling set of arguments - informed by science and thoroughly compatible with it - that to believe in anything despite the complete lack of evidence is, in fact, irrational.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Believe, Religion, Atheism

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• There are clearly people for whom Stoicism immediately "clicks," it comes natural, and others for whom it doesn't. Then again, Stoicism isn't the only positive philosophy of life. Buddhism is an excellent alternative, if it speaks more clearly to one's personality or cultural background.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Philosophy, Buddhism, People

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• In my mind, there is no reason why Stoicism shouldn't become as popular as Buddhism, especially in the Western world, where the dominant culture, Christianity, itself absorbed a large number of elements from Greco-Roman Stoicism.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Buddhism, Mind, Culture

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• I don't see any Stoic practice as problematic or risky, but I would advise to engage in extreme versions of the negative visualization exercise only if you are an advanced practitioner. The negative visualization is a meditation during which you visualize, slowly and deliberately, something bad or discomforting happening to you.

  Massimo Pigliucci

  Exercise, Meditation, Negative

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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