Massimo Pigliucci is the chair of the Department of
PhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at CUNY-
Lehman CollegeLehman College is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, USA. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within the City University in 1968. The college is named after Herbert Lehman, a former New York governor,...
. He is also the
editor in chiefAn editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
for the journal
Philosophy & Theory in Biology. He is known as an outspoken critic of
creationismCreationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
and advocate of science education.
Biography
Pigliucci was born in Monrovia, Liberia, although he was raised in Rome, Italy. He has a doctorate in
geneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
from the
University of FerraraThe University of Ferrara is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 500 students, was the best attended of the free universities in Italy...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, a Ph.D. in
botanyBotany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
from the
University of ConnecticutThe admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
, and a Ph.D. in
philosophy of scienceThe philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
from the
University of TennesseeThe University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
. He is a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Pigliucci was formerly a professor of
ecologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and
evolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
at Stony Brook University. His research focused on
phenotypic plasticityPhenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment. Such plasticity in some cases expresses as several highly morphologically distinct results; in other cases, a continuous norm of reaction describes the functional interrelationship...
,
genotypeThe genotype is the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual usually with reference to a specific character under consideration...
-environment interactions,
natural selectionNatural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
, and the constraints imposed on natural selection by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms. Early in his career, he received the prestigious Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize from the
Society for the Study of EvolutionThe Society for the Study of Evolution is a professional organization of evolutionary biologists. It was formed in the United States in 1946 to promote evolution and the integration of various fields of science concerned with evolution and to organize the publication of a scientific journal to...
. As a philosopher, Pigliucci is interested in the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between
scienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and
philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and the relationship between
scienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and
religionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
.
Pigliucci writes regularly for
Skeptical InquirerThe Skeptical Inquirer is a bimonthly American magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry with the subtitle: The magazine for science and reason....
on topics such as
climate change denialClimate change denial is a term used to describe organized attempts to downplay, deny or dismiss the scientific consensus on the extent of global warming, its significance, and its connection to human behavior, especially for commercial or ideological reasons...
. Has also written for
Philosophy NowPhilosophy Now is a philosophy magazine, published every two months and sold from news-stands and bookstores in the USA, UK, Australia and Canada. It aims to appeal to the general educated public, as well as to students and philosophy teachers. It was founded in 1991...
and maintains a blog called "Rationally Speaking." He has debated "deniers of evolution" (young-earth creationists and intelligent design proponents), including young earth creationists
Duane GishDuane Tolbert Gish is an American biochemist and a prominent member of the creationist movement. Gish is a former vice-president of the Institute for Creation Research and the author of numerous publications on the subject of creation science. Gish has been called "creationism's T.H...
and
Kent HovindKent E. Hovind is an American young earth creationist. Hovind speaks on creation science and aims to convince listeners to reject theories of evolution, geophysics, and cosmology in favor of the Genesis creation narrative as found in the Bible...
and
intelligent designIntelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
proponents William Dembski and Jonathan Wells, on many occasions.
Pigliucci is an atheist, and while he considers atheism a perfectly respectable metaphysical position, he believes that science does not necessarily demand atheism, because of the distinction between
methodological and
philosophical naturalism and the
distinction between matters of fact and value judgmentsThe fact-value distinction is a concept used to distinguish between arguments which can be claimed through reason alone, and those where rationality is limited to describing a collective opinion. In another formulation, it is the distinction between what is and what ought to be...
. He believes that many scientists and science educators fail to appreciate these differences.
Pigliucci serves on the board of NYC Skeptics and on the advisory board of the
Secular Coalition for AmericaThe Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C., representing atheists, humanists, freethinkers, agnostics, and other non-theistic people with a naturalistic worldview in American politics. Sean Faircloth, a five-term Maine state legislator, served as Executive...
. He also co-hosts its official podcast, Rationally Speaking, with Julia Galef.
Books
- Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk (University of Chicago Press, 2010, ISBN 9780226667867): This book presents a number of case studies on controversial topics in order to examine how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society.
- Making Sense of Evolution (with Jonathan Kaplan, University of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 9780226668376): A philosophical examination of the fundamental concepts of evolutionary theory and practice.
- Phenotypic Integration (Oxford University Press, 2003): A collection of technical essays on the evolution of complex biological organs.
- Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. (Sinauer, 2002): This book covers the evolution-creation controversy, better science teaching, and why people have difficulties with critical thinking. ISBN 0878936599
- Phenotypic Plasticity (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001): A technical volume on research concerning nature-nurture questions.
- Tales of the Rational (Freethought Press, 2000): A series of essays on atheism, straw-man arguments, creationism and the like.
- Phenotypic Evolution (with Carl Schlichting, Sinauer, 1998): A technical volume on the current status and future prospects of evolutionary theory.
Articles
The following are a few of his numerous articles. Some may be found at the
Internet InfidelsInternet Infidels, Inc. is a Colorado Springs, Colorado-based nonprofit educational organization founded in 1995 by Jeffery Jay Lowder and Brett Lemoine. Its mission is to utilize the Internet to promote the view that supernatural forces or entities do not exist...
' Secular Web. Additional articles can be found on his web sites (see "External Links" below).
- Pigliucci, M. (2006). Is evolutionary psychology a pseudoscience? Skeptical Inquirer 30 (2):23-24.
- Pigliucci, M. (2005). Science and fundamentalism. EMBO reports 6: 1106-1109.http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v6/n12/full/7400589.html
- Pigliucci, M. (2005). The power and perils of metaphors in science. Skeptical Inquirer 29 (5):20-21.
- Pigliucci, M., J. Banta, et al. (2004). The alleged fallacies of evolutionary theory. Philosophy Now (46):36-39.
- Pigliucci, M. (2004). What is philosophy of science good for? Philosophy Now (44):45.
External links