Stoic Meditations

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Religion & Spirituality
**Stoic Meditations**

Occasional reflections on the wisdom of Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers with Prof. Massimo Pigliucci. Complete index by author and source at https://massimopigliucci.org/stoic-podcast/. (cover art by Marek Škrabák; original music by Ian Jolin-Rasmussen).

Latest Episodes:

924. Two common explanations of “extraordinary” events Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

The incidents may have been fictitious; if not, then the fulfillment of the prophecy may have been accidental.

923. On epistemic humility Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

Explore the cause, if you can, of every strange thing that excites your astonishment. If you do not find the cause be assured, nevertheless, that nothing could have happened without a cause.

922. Ordinary explanations for extraordinary events Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

In periods of fear and of danger, stories of portents are not only more readily believed, but they are invented with greater impunity.

921. The scientific turn in understanding the world Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

In the case of things that happen now by chance, now in the usual course of nature, it is the height of folly to hold the gods as the direct agents and not to inquire into the causes of such things.

920. Follow Hannibal, not a piece of ox-meat Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

While Hannibal was in exile at the court of King Prusias he advised the king to go to war, but the king replied, ‘I do not dare, because the entrails forbid.’ ‘And do you,’ said Hannibal, ‘put more reliance in a piece of ox-meat than you do in a veteran commander?’

919. Sometimes coincidences as just that Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

You say, ‘Jupiter’s statue was being set up at the very time the conspiracy was being exposed.’ You, of course, prefer to attribute this coincidence to a divine decree rather than to chance.

918. Philosophy vs pseudoscience Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Upon my word you Stoics surrender the very city of philosophy while defending its outworks! For, by your insistence on the truth of soothsaying, you utterly overthrow physiology.

917. The proper place of sarcasm Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

Don’t you think, rather, that the bull lost his heart when he saw that Caesar, in his purple robe, had lost his head?

916. How, exactly, do you know that? Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

How did the soothsayers manage to agree among themselves what part of the entrails was unfavourable, and what part favourable; or what cleft in the liver indicated danger and what promised some advantage?

915. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

You ought to have employed arguments and reason to show that all your propositions were true and you ought not to have resorted to so-called occurrences — certainly not to such occurrences as are unworthy of belief.

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