On family affection
The Discourses of Epictetus, 1.11
PhilosophyCulture
Figs in Winter.
Massimo Pigliucci on Stoicism, skepticism, and living meaningfully through reason.
Recent essays
30 of 42Meta-ethics, Star Trek, and Samurai
Can we ever criticize another culture? On what grounds?
Suggested Readings
A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure
Early Socratic dialogues: Charmides
Is virtue a kind of knowledge?
How to cope, with Boethius
Part XXXVIII of the Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series
Suggested Readings
A few recommendations by Figs in Winter for your reading pleasure
What about poetry?
Exploring the divide between the two cultures, again
The evolution of consciousness
If consciousness is a biological phenomenon, how and why did it evolve?
How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic: my new book, one month out
A note to Figs in Winter readers on what’s coming — and why now.
Where did the Stoic God come from?
A fascinating whodunit from ancient Greek philosophy
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