Practical Wisdom

Dec 06 2024 48 ep. 5 mins 43
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 do a deep dive into some of the most crucial philosophical writings of a wide range of Greco-Roman authors in search of insights that may be useful for modern life. Available also on Apple, Google, and Spotify.

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Plato on the reciprocity of friendship

Dec 06 2024 5 mins  
“Ever since I was a boy I’ve always desired to acquire a certain thing. You know how different people desire different things: for example one man desires to acquire horses; another, to acquire dogs; another, gold; another, honors. I’m quite indifferent to those things, but I do passionately love acquiring friends. I’d rather get a good friend than the best quail or cock in

Epicurus on a life of reason, nature, and withdrawal

Nov 29 2024 3 mins  
“The simplest means of procuring protection from other men (which is gained to a certain extent by deterrent force) is the security of quiet solitude and withdrawal from the mass of people. …Nature’s wealth is restricted and easily won, while that of empty convention runs on to infinity. …Bad luck strikes the sophisticated man in a few cases, but reason has directed the big

Epictetus on providence

Nov 22 2024 7 mins  
“Who is it, then, that has fitted this to that and that to this? And who is it that has fitted the sword to the scabbard, and the scabbard to the sword? No one? Assuredly from the very structure of all made objects we are accustomed to prove that the work is certainly the product of some artificer, and has not been constructed at random. …And the male and the female, and the pa

Cicero on the hypocrisy of certain philosophers

Nov 15 2024 4 mins  
“This is the effect of philosophy, which is the medicine of our souls: it banishes all groundless apprehensions, frees us from desires, and drives away fears: but it has not the same influence over all people; it is of very great influence when it falls in with a disposition well adapted to it. …For how few philosophers will you meet with, whose life and manners are conformable

Plato on knowledge as the source of happiness

Nov 01 2024 5 mins  
“I put my questions to Lysis: ‘I suppose, Lysis, your father and mother love you very much?’‘Of course,’ he replied.‘Then they’d want you to be as happy as possible?’‘Naturally.’‘Do you think that a man is happy when he’s a slave and allowed to do nothing he desires?’‘Heavens, no, I don’t,’ he said.‘Then if your father and mother love you and desir

Epictetus on people with a hardened reasoning faculty

Oct 18 2024 4 mins  
“If a man resists truths that are all too evident, in opposing him it is not easy to find an argument by which one may cause him to change his opinion. The reason for this is neither the man’s ability nor the teacher’s weakness; nay, when a man who has been trapped in an argument hardens to stone, how shall one any longer deal with him by argument? …Do your senses tell you

Cicero on the value of philosophy

Oct 11 2024 5 mins  
“For my part, Brutus, I am perfectly persuaded that it is expedient for me to philosophize; for what can I do better, especially as I have no regular occupation? But I am not for limiting my philosophy to a few subjects; for philosophy is a matter in which it is difficult to acquire a little knowledge without acquainting yourself with many, or all its branches.Philosophy would ne

Aristotle on practicing virtue

Sep 27 2024 5 mins  
“Virtue, then, is twofold, intellectual and moral. Both the coming-into-being and increase of intellectual virtue result mostly from teaching—hence it requires experience and time—whereas moral virtue is the result of habit, and so it is that moral virtue got its name [ēthikē] by a slight alteration of the term habit [ethos]. It is also clear, as a result, that none of the

Plato on goodness vs bravery

Sep 13 2024 6 mins  
“SOCRATES: Now, Nicias, could you explain it to us again from the beginning? You know we started our discussion by considering bravery as a part of goodness?NICIAS: Yes, I do.SOCRATES: So you did agree with our answer that it’s a part, and hence that there are other parts, which are known collectively as goodness, didn’t you?NICIAS: Yes, of course.SOCRATES: Now, you mean the

Epicurus on security and pleasure

Aug 30 2024 3 mins  
“Any means by which it is possible to procure freedom from fearing other people is a natural good.Some people have desired to gain reputation and to be well regarded, thinking in this way to gain protection from others. If the lives of such people are secure, they have acquired a natural blessing; but if they are not, they do not possess what they originally reached for by natura