Massimo Pigliucci

Pigliucci became a popularizer of Stoicism and one of the driving forces in Stoicism's resurgence in the United States in the early twenty first century. His 2015 essay for the New York Times on the topic was one of the most shared articles to date. Pigliucci said he always felt Stoicism was part of his Italian heritage, but he came to practice it after being disenchanted with Buddhism. Though he finds both schools of thought to share similarities.

Pigliucci and Julia Galef at NECSS 2015 during the last Rationally Speaking episode they co-hosted together

In 2001, he debated William Lane Craig over the existence of God.

In August 2000 Massimo started with a monthly internet column called Rationally Speaking. In August 2005, the column became a blog, where he wrote posts until March 2014. Starting in February 2010, he co-hosted the bi-weekly Rationally Speaking podcast with Julia Galef, whom he first met at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, held in September 2009. The podcast is produced by the New York City Skeptics. The show has had many guests -- scientists, philosophers -- discussing matters of reason, skepticism and rationality. In 2010, Neil deGrasse Tyson explained on the show his justification for spending large amounts of government money on space programs. He eventually printed the transcript of his performance as a guest on the show in his book Space Chronicles as a full chapter covering eight pages. Another episode in which Tyson explained his position on the label "atheism" received attention on NPR. Pigliucci left the podcast in 2015 to pursue his other interests. Galef continued to host the podcast solo.

Pigliucci was formerly a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University. He explored phenotypic plasticity, genotype-environment interactions, natural selection, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms. In 1997, while working at the University of Tennessee, Pigliucci received the Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize, awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding young evolutionary biologist. As a philosopher, Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion. He is a proponent of an extended evolutionary synthesis to unify parts of biology not covered by the "modern synthesis" of the 20th century.

Massimo Pigliucci (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmassimo piʎˈʎuttʃi] ; born January 16, 1964) is Professor of Philosophy at CUNY-City College, formerly co-host of the Rationally Speaking Podcast, and formerly the editor in chief for the online magazine Scientia Salon. He is an outspoken critic of pseudoscience and creationism, and an advocate for secularism and science education.