Practical Wisdom

May 08 2024 21

Practical Wisdom Podcast artwork

Practical Wisdom is a short weekly podcast produced by Prof. Massimo Pigliucci of the City College of New York. The idea is to sample the philosophical writings of a wide range of Greco-Roman authors in search of insights that may be useful for modern life. Currently, we are examining five works: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics; Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations; Epictetus’s Discourses; Epicurus’s Being Happy (letters and aphorisms); and Plato’s early Socratic dialogues (Ion, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Hippias Major, Hippias Minor, and Euthydemus). Available also on Apple, Google, and Spotify.

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Epictetus on the Stoic opposition

Mar 29 2024 4 mins

“Helvidius Priscus saw this, too, and acted on the insight.When Vespasian told him not to attend a meeting of the Senate, he replied, ‘You have the power to disqualify me as a senator, but as long as I am one, I’m obliged to attend meetings.’‘All right, then, attend the meeting,’ says Vespasian, ‘but don’t say anything.’ ‘Don’t ask me for my opinion and I’ll

Cicero on the right time to die

Mar 15 2024 4 mins

“The case of our friend Pompey was something better: once, when he had been very ill at Naples, the Neapolitans, on his recovery, put crowns on their heads, as did those of Puteoli; the people flocked from the country to congratulate him—it is a Grecian custom, and a foolish one; still, it is a sign of good fortune.But the question is, had he died, would he have been taken from

Aristotle on the importance of external goods

May 08 2024 4 mins

“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

Epicurus on sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll

Apr 26 2024 3 mins

“When I say that pleasure is the goal of living I do not mean the pleasures of libertines or the pleasures inherent in positive enjoyment, as is supposed by certain persons who are ignorant of our doctrine or who are not in agreement with it or who interpret it perversely.I mean, on the contrary, the pleasure that consists in freedom from bodily pain and mental agitation. The ple

Epictetus on the purple in the toga

Feb 19 2024 3 mins

“Which is preferable, death or life? Life, of course. Pain or pleasure? Pleasure, of course.‘But if I refuse to take part in the Emperor’s show, I’ll lose my head.’ ‘Go ahead, then. Take part. But I won’t.’‘Why me and not you?’ ‘Because you’re thinking of yourself as just one thread in the toga.’ ‘Meaning what?’‘You’re bound to care about how to be

An example of Socratic ignorance

Mar 12 2024 5 mins

“Lysimachus and Melesias have invited us to discuss their sons, because they’re anxious for the boys’ characters to develop in the best way possible. So, what we must do, if we claim we can, is to point out to them teachers who are known firstly to have been upstanding men in their own right and to have cared for many young men’s characters, and secondly to have taught us a

Cicero on good reasons for dying

Feb 05 2024 5 mins

“Cato left this world in such a manner as if he were delighted that he had found an opportunity of dying; for that God who presides in us forbids our departure hence without his leave. But when God himself has given us a just cause, as formerly he did to Socrates, and lately to Cato, and often to many others — in such a case, certainly every man of sense would gladly exchange t

Aristotle on the point of a human life

Feb 29 2024 4 mins

“Saying that ‘happiness is best’ is something manifestly agreed on, whereas what it is still needs to be said more distinctly. Now, perhaps this would come to pass if the work of the human being should be grasped. … So whatever, then, would this work be? For living appears to be something common even to plants, but what is peculiar [to human beings] is being sought. One mus

Epicurus on pleasure vs pain

Jan 22 2024 4 mins

“Because of the very fact that pleasure is our primary and congenital good we do not select every pleasure; there are times when we forgo certain pleasures, particularly when they are followed by too much unpleasantness. Furthermore, we regard certain states of pain as preferable to pleasures, particularly when greater satisfaction results from our having submitted to discomforts

Epictetus and the chamber pot

Feb 15 2024 5 mins

“In order to determine what is and isn’t reasonable, we not only take account of the values of external things, but each of us also takes his role into consideration. For one person it’s reasonable to fetch someone else’s chamber pot, because he’s focused on the fact that, if he doesn’t do it, he’ll be flogged and denied food, while, if he does, nothing unpleasant or