Massimo Pigliucci

For instance, go out for a walk or count until 20 or go to the bathroom, just anything that will create a detachment, a sudden detachment from the situation so that you can de-escalate basically.

And of course, there's nothing inherently stoic about any of those things specifically, any of those specific suggestions.

What is stoic about is the notion that I want to keep my presence of mind here.

The best chance I have to do well in this situation is to act rationally and not to panic.

Panic has never helped anybody.

And it's a great example of how you respond rationally and effectively to a situation that could very easily turn lethal.

It was a pleasure.

Thanks for having me again.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Thanks for having me.

I was in Knoxville, Tennessee, the buckle of the Bible belt, as they called it.

I had started my academic career at the University of Tennessee.

I was a biologist at the time, not a philosopher.

And I was being treated very well by the university there.

But at the same time, there were a couple of things that were problematic.

Number one, the local culture was difficult for me to live in.

I was a professor of evolutionary biology.

My students, some of them actually told me that I was probably going to go to hell.

So it's like, you know, that's challenging.

But the more important bit was that I had a daughter from a previous relationship, and she was living on the East Coast in Connecticut.