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PODCAST

Practical Wisdom

Massimo Pigliucci

Practical Wisdom is a short weekly podcast produced by Prof. Massimo Pigliucci of the City College of New York. The idea is to do a deep dive into some of the most crucial philosophical writings of a wide range of Greco-Roman authors in search of insights that may be useful for modern life. Available also on Apple, Google, and Spotify. figsinwintertime.substack.com

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

5:48

Plato on knowledge as the source of happiness

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/11/01

“I put my questions to Lysis: ‘I suppose, Lysis, your father and mother love you very much?’‘Of course,’ he replied.‘Then they’d want you to be as happy as possible?’‘Naturally.’‘Do you think that a man is happy when he’s a slave and allowed to do nothing he desires?’‘Heavens, no, I don’t,’ he said.‘Then if your father and mother love you and desire your happiness, it’s absolutely clear that they must do their best to make you happy.’‘Of course,’ he said.‘So they let you do what you want and don’t

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3:08

Epicurus on why we need science

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/10/25

“We would have no need for natural science unless we were worried by apprehensiveness regarding the heavenly bodies, by anxiety about the meaning of death, and also by our failure to understand the limitations of pain and desire.It is impossible to get rid of our anxieties about essentials if we do not understand the nature of the universe. … Hence it is impossible to enjoy our pleasures unadulterated without natural science. …There is no advantage in gaining security with regard to other people if

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4:33

Epictetus on people with a hardened reasoning faculty

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/10/18

“If a man resists truths that are all too evident, in opposing him it is not easy to find an argument by which one may cause him to change his opinion. The reason for this is neither the man’s ability nor the teacher’s weakness; nay, when a man who has been trapped in an argument hardens to stone, how shall one any longer deal with him by argument? …Do your senses tell you that you are awake? ‘No,’ he answers, ‘any more than they do when in dreams I have the impression that I am awake.’ Is there,

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5:37

Cicero on the value of philosophy

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/10/11

“For my part, Brutus, I am perfectly persuaded that it is expedient for me to philosophize; for what can I do better, especially as I have no regular occupation? But I am not for limiting my philosophy to a few subjects; for philosophy is a matter in which it is difficult to acquire a little knowledge without acquainting yourself with many, or all its branches.Philosophy would never have been in such esteem in Greece itself, if it had not been for the strength which it acquired from the contentions

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5:09

Aristotle on practicing virtue

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/09/27

“Virtue, then, is twofold, intellectual and moral. Both the coming-into-being and increase of intellectual virtue result mostly from teaching—hence it requires experience and time—whereas moral virtue is the result of habit, and so it is that moral virtue got its name [ēthikē] by a slight alteration of the term habit [ethos]. It is also clear, as a result, that none of the moral virtues are present in us by nature. …For as regards those things we must learn how to do, we learn by doing them—for

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6:07

Plato on goodness vs bravery

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/09/13

“SOCRATES: Now, Nicias, could you explain it to us again from the beginning? You know we started our discussion by considering bravery as a part of goodness?NICIAS: Yes, I do.SOCRATES: So you did agree with our answer that it’s a part, and hence that there are other parts, which are known collectively as goodness, didn’t you?NICIAS: Yes, of course.SOCRATES: Now, you mean the same by these parts as I do, don’t you? For me, besides bravery, the list includes self-control, fairness and other similar

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3:46

Epictetus on making progress

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/09/06

“What is the work of virtue? Serenity. Who, then, is making progress? The man who has read many treatises of Chrysippus? What, is virtue no more than this — to have gained a knowledge of Chrysippus? For if it is this, progress is confessedly nothing else than a knowledge of many of the works of Chrysippus. …And where is your work? In desire and aversion, that you may not miss what you desire and encounter what you would avoid; in choice and in refusal, that you may commit no fault therein; in giving

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3:36

Epicurus on security and pleasure

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/08/30

“Any means by which it is possible to procure freedom from fearing other people is a natural good.Some people have desired to gain reputation and to be well regarded, thinking in this way to gain protection from others. If the lives of such people are secure, they have acquired a natural blessing; but if they are not, they do not possess what they originally reached for by natural instinct.No pleasure is bad in itself. But the things that make for pleasure in certain cases entail disturbances many

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5:04

Cicero on burying one’s body

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/08/23

“The opinion of Socrates respecting this matter is clearly stated in the book which treats of his death, of which we have already said so much; for when he had discussed the immortality of the soul, and when the time of his dying was approaching rapidly, being asked by Crito how he would be buried, ‘I have taken a great deal of pains,’ said he, ‘my friends, to no purpose, for I have not convinced our Crito that I shall fly from hence, and leave no part of me behind. Notwithstanding, Crito, if you

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6:35

Aristotle and the structure of the soul

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/08/16

“Of the non-rational [component of the soul], one part seems to be that which is held in common and vegetative—I mean that which causes nutrition and growth. For someone could posit that such a capacity of the soul is in all things that are nourished. …A certain virtue belonging to this capacity, then, appears to be common and not distinctive of a human being. …Yet there seems to be also a certain other nature of the soul that is non-rational, although it does share in reason in a way. For in the

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5:21

Plato on courage as a type of knowledge

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/08/02

SOCRATES: Now, Nicias, tell me – or rather, tell us, since Laches and I are sharing the discussion between us – your argument is that bravery is knowledge of what is fearful and what is encouraging, isn’t it?NICIAS: Yes.SOCRATES: And this isn’t something everyone is aware of … unless they supplement their own knowledge with this particular kind. Isn’t that what you said?NICIAS: Yes, it was.SOCRATES: So, it’s actually not something any pig would know, as the saying goes, and a pig couldn’t be

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5:05

Epictetus on doing our best

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/07/26

“‘Come then, Epictetus, shave off your beard.’ If I am a philosopher, I answer, ‘I will not shave it off’ ‘But I will take off your neck.’ If that will do you any good, take it off. …Only consider at what price you sell your freedom of will. If you must sell it, man, at least do not sell it cheap. But the great and pre-eminent deed, perhaps, befits others, Socrates and men of his stamp.— Why then, pray, if we are endowed by nature for such greatness, do not all men, or many, become like him? What,

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4:37

Epicurus’s five fundamental teachings

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/07/19

“The blessed and indestructible being of the divine has no concerns of its own, nor does it make trouble for others. It is not affected by feelings of anger or benevolence, because these are found where there is lack of strength.Death means nothing to us, because that which has been broken down into atoms has no sensation and that which has no sensation is no concern of ours.The quantitative limit of pleasure is the elimination of all feelings of pain. Wherever the pleasurable state exists, there is

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4:12

Cicero on dying before one’s time

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/07/12

“Away, then, with those follies, such as that it is miserable to die before our time. What time do you mean? That of nature? But she has only lent you life, as she might lend you money, without fixing any certain time for its repayment. Have you any grounds of complaint, then, that she recalls it at her pleasure? For you received it on these terms. …Because there is nothing beyond old age, we call that long: all these things are said to be long or short, according to the proportion of time they were

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4:20

Aristotle on the roles of virtue and fortune

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/07/05

“Those fortunes that turn out in the contrary way restrict and even ruin one’s blessedness, for they both inflict pains and impede many activities.Nevertheless, even in the midst of these, nobility shines through, whenever someone bears up calmly under many great misfortunes, not because of any insensitivity to pain but because he is wellborn and great souled. …For we suppose that someone who is truly good and sensible bears up under all fortunes in a becoming way and always does what is noblest

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5:00

Aristotle on who can be happy

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/06/12

“It is to be expected, then, that we do not say that either a cow or a horse or any other animal is at all happy, for none of them are able to share in such an activity.It is because of this too that a child is not happy either: he is not yet apt to do such things, on account of his age. …As we said, both complete virtue and a complete life are required: many reversals and all manner of fortune arise in the course of life, and it is possible for someone who is particularly thriving to encounter

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4:26

Epicurus on determinism and free will

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/06/05

“The good Epicurean believes that certain events occur deterministically, that others are chance events, and that still others are in our own hands.He sees also that necessity cannot be held morally responsible and that chance is an unpredictable thing, but that what is in our own hands, since it has no master, is naturally associated with blameworthiness and the opposite.Actually it would be better to subscribe to the popular mythology than to become a slave by accepting the determinism of the

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6:03

Plato on courage in battle

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/05/22

“[Socrates] First of all, then, let’s try to say what bravery is, Laches; and after that we’ll investigate any ways of adding it to young men, in so far as it may be possible to do so by means of various activities and disciplines. So, as I say, try to put into words what bravery is.[Laches] My word, Socrates, that’s not difficult! If a man is prepared to stand in the ranks, face up to the enemy and not run away, you can be sure that he’s brave. …[Socrates] But what about another man, a man who

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4:40

Aristotle on the importance of external goods

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/05/08

“Happiness manifestly requires external goods in addition, just as we said. For it is impossible or not easy for someone without equipment to do what is noble: many things are done through instruments, as it were—through friends, wealth, and political power.Those who are bereft of some of these (for example, good birth, good children, or beauty) disfigure their blessedness, for a person who is altogether ugly in appearance, or of poor birth, or solitary and childless cannot really be characterized

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6:02

Plato on floundering in a sea of words

Practical Wisdom ·

2024/04/26

“LACHES: I take courage to be a certain endurance present in one’s character, if I have to mention the element essentially present in all cases.SOCRATES: Now, this is how it appears to me: by no means every kind of endurance, I think, can appear to you to be bravery. So endurance accompanied by wisdom would be both fine and good, wouldn’t it?LACHES: Certainly.SOCRATES: But what of it when accompanied by foolishness? Surely it’s quite the opposite, damaging and detrimental?LACHES: Yes.SOCRATES: So,

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