Ryan speaks with Professor Massimo Pigliucci about his new book The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches Us about Our Search for Good Leaders, what Alcibiades’s magnetism and lack of moral compass can teach us about what we look for in leaders today, the tension between being virtuous and being pragmatic, and more.

Massimo Pigliucci is Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York, the former co-host of the Rationally Speaking Podcast, the originator of Neoskepticism, and an advocate and popularizer of Stoicism. He wrote a viral piece in The New York Times called How to Be a Stoic as well as two books on Stoicism titled How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life and A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control a Stoic handbook. He also explores Stoic philosophy on his podcast Stoic Meditations.

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