Massimo Pigliucci

Massimo Pigliucci, Ph.D., (born January 16, 1964) is a professor of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is known as an outspoken critic of creationism and advocate of science education. He received his doctorate in genetics at the University of Ferrara, Italy, a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Connecticut, and a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Tennessee.^[1]

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He received the Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution, and has been awarded three times the Oak Ridge National Laboratories Science Alliance Faculty Research Award. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.

His research in science focuses on genotype-environment interactions, on natural selection, and on the constraints imposed on the latter by the genetic and developmental makeup of organisms. As a philosopher, he is interested in epistemological issues in the philosophy of science and in the conceptual examination of fundamental ideas underlying evolutionary theory.

Pigliucci writes regularly for Skeptical Inquirer and Philosophy Now, and has occasionally debated creationists. On The Infidel Guy's internet radio show, he debated Kent Hovind (a creationist).[1][2]

Pigliucci considers that many problems are caused by a failure on the part of scientists and science educators to appreciate the distinction between methodological and philosophical naturalism; and the distinction between matters of fact and value judgements, suggesting that whereas atheism is a perfectly respectable metaphysical position, science does not necessarily demand atheism^[2]

Books

• Making Sense of Evolution (with Jonathan Kaplan, Chicago Press, 2006): A philosophical examination of the fundamental concepts of evolutionary theory and practice.
• Phenotypic Integration (Oxford 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, 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 Infidels' Secular Web. Additional articles can be found on his web sites (listed 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.[3]
• 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.

Notes & References

1. ^ Curriculum vitae,
2. ^ Science and fundamentalism