Category Archives: Philosophy

“Why is everybody wrong except me?”

Posted on August 4, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jewish Journal: “These are the times that try men’s souls,” wrote American founder Thomas Paine. Our own times are more likely to try people’s patience than their souls. We can’t stop shouting at each … Continue reading →

Posted in Judaism, Philosophy, The Jewish Journal | Tagged Evolutionary Legacy, Evolutionary Psychology, Moral Tribes, Political campaigns, Tribal thinking | Leave a comment

Gloomy Gus Mendelssohn

Posted on July 25, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: Do we survive bodily death? There are reasons to think so, but nothing that qualifies as proof. Perhaps the most sensible attitude (because it’s mine) is that if we do survive death, … Continue reading →

Posted in Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Death, Immortality, Kant, Lavater, Moses Mendelssohn, Soul | 2 Comments

Spinoza on the Couch

Posted on June 26, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: I’ve spent a lot of my life dealing with crazy people, including myself. “Crazy,” of course, has various definitions, though it’s not the topic of this blog post. My favorite definition was … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Descartes, Emotional Needs, Epistemic Justification, Maimonides, Psychological Needs, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Rationalism, Saadia, Spinoza | 2 Comments

Seeing the Reality Beyond “You”

Posted on June 24, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My new blog post for The Jerusalem Post: What’s real and what isn’t? How do you know? Could there be different kinds of realities that you know in different ways? The greatest thinkers, both Jewish and gentile, have given the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Arthur Green, Genesis, Hebrew, Hebrew College, These Are The Words, Torah | Leave a comment

Peace Depends on Truth

Posted on June 3, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: Truth can be a matter of life and death. That’s no surprise, since it’s happened many times in history. But I want to make a much more difficult argument: A theory of … Continue reading →

Posted in Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Blanshard, Coherence, Correspondence, Maimonides, Spinoza, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Theories of Truth, Theory of truth, Tolerance, Truth | Leave a comment

What You Admire, You Can Become

Posted on May 23, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: Moses was a world-changing individual. We know that. But sometimes, we don’t appreciate how far his influence extends. I’ve been reading British historian Paul Johnson’s excellent A History of the Jews. His account … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Admiration, Brand Blanshard, Character, Heroes, History of the Jews, Moral Ideal, Moses, Paul Johnson, Torah | Leave a comment

Prophetic Brains in a Vat

Posted on April 7, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: “Brains in a vat”? It sounds like the plot of a bad science fiction movie. But it might hold a key to understanding prophetic insight. The basic idea was around even before … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Allegory of the Cave, Bible, Brain in a vat, Cosmic Microwave Background, Epistemology, Hilary Putnam, Jewish Philosophy, Maimonides, Plato, Saadia Gaon, The Republic | Leave a comment

How Medieval Islam Influenced Modern Judaism

Posted on March 7, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: In the modern era, we associate Islam mainly with terrorism, barbarism, and opposition to science. But it was not always so. Long ago, our early encounters with Islam influenced the development of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Modern Orthodoxy, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Arabic Philosophy, Falsafa, Islamic Theology, Jewish Philosophy, Kalam, Maimonides, Menachem Kellner, Philo, Saadia, Saadya, Yoram Hazony | Leave a comment

Knowing What Time It Is

Posted on February 21, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: Do you know what time it is? If I asked you that question, there are two logical answers and many non-logical answers. If you know what time it is, then the logical … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Belief, Enlightenment philosophy, Epistemology, Ethics of Belief, Halacha, Jewish Philosophy, Moses Mendelssohn, Sociology of Belief, speech acts, Theory of meaning, Theory of truth | Leave a comment

Absolutely Relatively True

Posted on February 8, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My new blog post for The Jerusalem Post: “Absolute truth.” People like that phrase. It sounds serious. It shows they are committed. No weasel words. No equivocation. They said something, they mean it, and it’s absolutely true. Menachem Kellner, a … Continue reading →