Massimo Pigliucci
Massimo Pigliucci is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he teaches ecology and evolutionary biology. His research is on the evolution of genotype-environment interactions, i.e. on questions of nature vs. nurture.
Dr. Pigliucci received his Doctorate in Genetics at the University of Ferrara, Italy. He is now Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Tennessee. (In 1999, Dr. Pigliucci received the prestigious Chancellor Award for Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement from the University of Tennessee.) He fields of research are in plant ecological and evolutionary genetics, and the experimental and theoretical approaches to the study of plant responses toward environmental change (nature vs. nurture). He has published 162 technical papers on both science and philosophy and authored or edited 12 books, been awarded several times the Oak Ridge National Labs award for excellence in research, and has won the prestigious Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution, of which he is now Vice President.
As a skeptic, he has published in national magazines such as Free Inquiry (for which he writes a regular op-ed column), Skeptic, Skeptical Inquirer (for which he writes a regular column on the scientific method), Philosophy Now, and The Philosopher's Magazine. He has given lectures for many skeptic and freethought groups around the country, and has debated several theists and creationists, including William Craig, William Dembski, Duane Gish, Ken Hovind, and Jonathan Wells. He has been elected as a Consultant for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.
Rationally Speaking is an archive of a blog by Dr. Massimo Pigliucci on science, reason and rationality. See "Massimo Central" for links to all the online pies he has his finger in.
Published on the Secular Web
Kiosk Article
Design Yes, Intelligent No: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory and Neo-Creationism
Dr. Massimo Pigliucci challenges creationism on all fronts, including the latest brand of intelligent design theory. Referring specifically to the work of William Dembski and Michael Behe, the author highlights the fatal flaws in the ID arguments and renders a crushing blow to the pseudoscience that underlies creationist claims.
The Place of Science
Does poetical metaphysics put science in its place? Pigliucci lends his insight into the ongoing battle between science and religion.
The Rationalistic Fallacy
In this first column titled "Rationally Speaking", Massimo Pigliucci addresses the allure of pseudoscience. If you insist in thinking that all you need to do is to explain things just a little bit better and people will see the light, you are committing what is knows as the "rationalistic fallacy."
Kiosk Video
Interview with Massimo Pigliucci
Join Edouard Tahmizian in this half-hour interview with Massimo Pigliucci, K. D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with doctorates in evolutionary biology, genetics, and philosophy. Pigliucci canvasses the philosophy of science since Karl Popper, particularly on the issue of how best to distinguish science from pseudoscience (where many pseudosciences are falsified in practice, and thus falsifiable in principle), before turning to his main criticisms of the so-called "New Atheists," Aristotle's three components of persuasion (arguments/reasons/facts, credibility, and getting your audience to care about what you're saying), his debates with creationists, his criticisms of Bernardo Kastrup's view that consciousness is fundamental, why he thinks that posing the hard problem of consciousness involves committing a category mistake, and the biologically indefensible implications of taking the Noah's Ark story as literal history. Check out this intriguing discussion of such a wide assortment of topics!