Massimo Pigliucci
Massimo Pigliucci is professor of philosophy at the City University of New York–Lehman College, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and author of Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. His essays can be found at rationallyspeaking.org.
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On Miracles–Again
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.5, September/October 2011
Thinking About Science
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Personal Genomics: The Fine Line between Science and Narcissism
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Book Review
A review of Here Is a Human Being: At the Dawn of Personal Genomics by Misha Angrist
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Popper vs. Kuhn: The Battle for Understanding How Science Works
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Thinking About Science
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The Science of Unique Events
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Thinking About Science
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The Problem with Neurosexism
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Book Review
A review of Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine
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On Time Travel
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Thinking About Science
Where does the know-how to build time machines ultimately come from?
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Climate Denialism
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 34.2, March / April 2010
Thinking About Science
As I'm sure most Skeptical Inquirer readers are aware, November 2009 was "global warming denialism month." This is not an official United Nations...
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Is There a Difference between Basic and Applied Science?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Thinking About Science
Humans like to classify things into discrete boxes. It helps us make sense of our complex and often chaotic world. A classic problem in philosophy is whether...
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The Moral Duty of a Skeptic
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Thinking About Science
I assume that most readers of the Skeptical Inquirer think that skepticism is a good thing...
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Logophobia
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.5, September / October 2009
Thinking About Science
Logophobics have developed strategies to obfuscate clear thinking, which they deploy whenever pressed by a skeptic.
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On the Moon
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.4, July / August 2009
News & Comment
There is nothing like new facts to add some excitement to supposedly established theories.
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Hard and Soft Science: Physics vs. Psychology
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.3, May / June 2009
Thinking About Science
It turns out that the replicability of findings in psychology is no worse than that of findings in particle physics.
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The Tree of Life
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.2, March / April 2009
Thinking About Science
Darwin famously drew only one figure in The Origin of Species, which was published 150 years ago...
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Experimental Philosophy, an Oxymoron?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.1, January / February 2009
Thinking About Science
Is it inconveivable, for instance, for an ethical philosopher to write a paper in that field as if he had never heard of...
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The Brain on Justice
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.5, September / October 2008
Thinking About Science
Justice, fairness and the efficient distribution of resources do not seem at first the sort of topics that should interest...
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Alternative Science
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Thinking About Science
Theories and hypotheses are the outcome of creative thinking, and creative thinking requires imagination, not just knowledge.
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Creationist Peer Review
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.3, May / June 2008
Thinking About Science
Arguing, teaching, and doing research means that one accepts the rule of rational, evidence-based discourse...
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Toward a Consilience of Sciences and Humanities?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.2, March / April 2008
Thinking About Science
In 1998, biologist Edward O. Wilson published a controversial book titled Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge...
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Is Intelligent Design Creationism?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.1, January / February 2008
Thinking About Science
The fossils produced by the paleontologist make a compelling case because they are of the appropriate morphology...
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Beyond Selfish Genes
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Thinking About Science
Richard Dawkins' classic book, The Selfish Gene (1976), presented to the public the astonishing idea that...
The Trouble with Memetics
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.5, September / October 2007
Thinking About Science
A meme, according to the by-now-standard dictionary definition, is "an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be...
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Is Dawkins Deluded? When Scientists Talk About Religion
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Thinking About Science
By some accounts, 2006 was the year atheists struck back. Three books in particular made headlines across the world...
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Can There Be a Science of Free Will?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.3, May / June 2007
Thinking About Science
A splendid article by Dennis Overbye in The New York Times gave me the impetus to talk about...
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Is There Such a Thing as Macroevolution?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.2, March / April 2007
Thinking About Science
Even creationists make progress.
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Evolutionary Epistemology, Anyone
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.1, January / February 2007
Thinking About Science
Wittgenstein wrote that "Darwin's theory has no more to do with philosophy than any other hypothesis in natural science."
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The Neuro-philosophy of Regred
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.6, November / December 2006
Thinking About Science
For millennia, the study of the mind and the relationship between reason and emotions was the exclusive domain of philosophy.
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One More Take on Reductionism vs. Holism
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.5, September / October 2006
Thinking About Science
Do you think that nature is characterized by complex systems that interact with each other and whose properties are not...
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When Philosophy Matters
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.4, July / August 2006
Thinking About Science
Philosophy is often accused of being out of touch with reality, the esoteric pursuit of a vanishing academic elite that...
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Is Physics Turning into Philosophy?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.3, May / June 2006
Thinking About Science
Physics is, by most people's—especially physicists'—accounts, the queen of the sciences.
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Is Evolutionary Psychology a Pseudoscience?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.2, March / April 2006
Thinking About Science
Evolutionary psychology is the most current incarnation of what started out as sociobiology, a branch of evolutionary theory...