[{"id":312141,"date":"2026-09-23T08:56:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/?p=312141"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:59:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:59:03","slug":"cicero-and-probabilia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/3quarksdaily\/2026\/09\/cicero-and-probabilia.html","title":{"rendered":"Cicero And Probabilia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massimo Pigliucci at Aeon Magazine<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"\"How tightly should you hold your beliefs? You face the question several times a week without noticing. Hold them too loosely and you don\u2019t stand for anything, hold them too tightly and you become the sort of person no argument can reach. Most of us swing between the two and have no vocabulary for the ground in between. A Roman lawyer worked one out, under pressure far worse than anything we are likely to face, and it is still the best answer available.<\/p>\n

The time is early 45 BCE, the place a villa near Lucrine Lake, northwest of Naples, in southern Italy. One of the most fascinating and controversial figures in the entirety of Western history, Marcus Tullius Cicero, is finishing writing a book that will be known as the Academica<\/em>, where he explains the nature of sceptical philosophy and why it is so crucial not just to the advancement of human knowledge, but to living a good life. It is a strange moment to retire into one\u2019s villa to write. The Roman Republic, so beloved by Cicero, is about to be destroyed by aspiring autocrats: Julius Caesar, a longtime friend and now a political opponent, has declared himself dictator for life, a move that will soon lead to his assassination on the Ides of March 44 BCE.<\/span><\/p>\n

more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massimo Pigliucci at Aeon Magazine: How tightly should you hold your beliefs? You face the question several times a week without noticing. Hold them too loosely and you don\u2019t stand for anything, hold them too tightly and you become the sort of person no argument can reach. Most of us swing between the two and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5918],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recommended-reading","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312144,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312141\/revisions\/312144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":312153,"date":"2026-09-23T08:47:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/?p=312153"},"modified":"2026-09-23T08:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:47:59","slug":"wednesday-poem-516","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/3quarksdaily\/2026\/09\/wednesday-poem-516.html","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late September<\/h2>\n

Now the wind chimes are chiming earlier,
\nchiming colder in the neighborhood;
\nthe sun is smaller and the birds are fewer,
\nmuch fewer in the backyard. Now the air
\nis darker; my garden plots are empty.
\nNow I sleep with the windows closed,
\nand wake to silence. Then what is there?
\nOnly thoughts: soon the pines will be
\ndropping needles; soon snow will be
\nvisible on the peaks, then more snow
\nwill silence the town\u2014just the sound
\nof the wind moving through bare trees,
\nthe sadness of a January sky. Perhaps
\nthere are thoughts pushing toward
\nsummer (always there are thoughts), but
\nwhere else to go when the wind chimes
\nbegin chiming earlier, chiming colder,
\nwhen the sun suddenly grows smaller,
\nif not for thinking of the smell of the soil
\nafter a June rain, picturing the tomatoes
\nvivid in the sunlight, or imagining opening
\nthe screen door and stepping out into
\nthe garden, only to find oneself lost
\nin a crowd of bright orange marigolds?<\/p>\n

by Jodi Hollander
\n<\/em>from<\/em> The New Yorker. 9\/21\/26<\/p>\n

Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late September Now the wind chimes are chiming earlier, chiming colder in the neighborhood; the sun is smaller and the birds are fewer, much fewer in the backyard. Now the air is darker; my garden plots are empty. Now I sleep with the windows closed, and wake to silence. Then what is there? Only thoughts:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5918],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recommended-reading","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312156,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312153\/revisions\/312156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":312139,"date":"2026-09-23T07:52:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T11:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/?p=312139"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:53:33","slug":"bertrand-russell-authority-and-the-individual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/3quarksdaily\/2026\/09\/bertrand-russell-authority-and-the-individual.html","title":{"rendered":"Bertrand Russell – Authority and the Individual"},"content":{"rendered":"