Category Archives: my papers

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] Science and philosophy are two areas of human endeavor that currently have, shall we say, a complex relationship. Arguably, the scientific approach to understanding the world was invented by theContinue reading “Paper: Presenting philosophy, what science has taught me about it”

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] Werner Heisenberg, one of the creators of the theory of quantum mechanics, adopted what by today’s standards would be a rather unusual position for a scientist, especially a physicist. InContinue reading “Paper: The tension between scientific knowledge and common-sense philosophy”

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] We all want to live a “good life,” yet relatively few people pause to critically ponder what that might mean in the first place. This is interesting because it impliesContinue reading “Paper: Public reasoning about the good life”

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] “Philosophy is dead’, proclaimed the great Stephen Hawking. The ‘scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge’. This judgement will resonate with aContinue reading “Paper: Consciousness, a biologist’s perspective”

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] Liberal naturalism as understood within the context of this volume is an approach that attempts to strike a reasonable balance between a philosophy that is simply a handmaiden to theContinue reading “Paper: Scientism and liberal naturalism”

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] Despite a widespread opinion that meditation is largely a practice developed in Eastern traditions, the West has produced a number of techniques that can reasonably be classified under the broadContinue reading “Paper: Prosoche as Stoic mindfulness”

by Massimo Pigliucci [Part of an occasional series presenting academic papers I have published but that may be of general interest. Full list with links here.] Why would anyone want to resurrect ancient Stoicism as a way to tackle today’s troubles? Isn’t it all about going through life with a stiff upper lip while doingContinue reading “Paper: Stoic therapy for today’s troubles”