Tag Archives: Epistemology

Truth in All Its Varieties

Posted on July 25, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

Is truth always the same thing, or are there different kinds of truth? Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy | Tagged Epistemology, Logic, Philosophy, Truth | 3 Comments

The UNESCO Vote Mystery

Posted on October 17, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jewish Journal: There’s a mystery about UNESCO’s denial last week of Jewish connections to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The mystery is not that the resolution was proposed by some … Continue reading →

Posted in Judaism | Tagged Belief, Cognitive Science, Confirmation Bias, Conflict of belief, Epistemology, Hilary Putnam, Israel, Jerusalem, Memes, Propaganda, Temple Mount, UNESCO, Western Wall | 1 Comment

The Jewish Roots of Modern Science

Posted on May 1, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

Must we choose between science and religious faith? Many people think so. On the scientific side, we find pop atheists such as Sam Harris, who believes that “religious faith is one of the most perverse misuses of intelligence we have … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Christopher Hitchens, Epistemology, Lazer Brody, Maimonides, Matthew Arnold, Monotheism, Natural Law, Philosophy of Science, Religion and Science, Richard Dawkins, Saadia, Sam Harris, Science, Scientific Method | 2 Comments

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

Putnam’s Predicament — And Ours

Posted on March 27, 2016 by N.S. Palmer

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” That was one of my father’s favorite adages, second only to “talk is cheap.” It means that if you eat your cake, you … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Belief Justification, Epistemology, Ethics of Belief, Hilary Putnam, Jewish Faith, Kierkegaard, Moral Epistemology, Rationality, Religion and Science, Wittgenstein | 2 Comments

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

Orthodoxy, Truth, and Half-Belief

Posted on November 26, 2015 by N.S. Palmer

My new blog post for The Jerusalem Post: People who have a secular worldview often wonder how Orthodox Jews can believe what they do: for example, that the Torah is literally true, that God commanded all the mitzvot, or that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy, Philosophy, The Jerusalem Post | Tagged Belief, Epistemology, H.H Price, Jerusalem Post, Jewish tradition, Modern Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy, Religion and Science, Theory of truth | Leave a comment

Costs, Benefits, and Beliefs

Posted on October 24, 2015 by N.S. Palmer

By N.S. Palmer I’m puzzled. No worries. It’s my normal state. I’m revising the draft of my book Belief, Truth, and Torah. I want to make it engage more fully with arguments from one of our professors at Hebrew College, … Continue reading →

Posted in Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy, Philosophy | Tagged Belief, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Ethics of Belief, Orthodox Judaism, Psychology of Belief, Solomon Schimmel, The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs, Torah | Leave a comment

Maimonides and Keeping the Commandments

Posted on August 5, 2015 by N.S. Palmer

By N.S. Palmer “God rewards those who perform the commandments of the Torah and punishes those who transgress its admonitions.”1 The Jewish sage Maimonides called that an essential tenet of our faith. But there’s something a little odd about it. … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Modern Orthodoxy, Philosophy, The Times of Israel | Tagged A Maimonides Reader, A Priori, Belief, Commandments, Epistemology, Functions of Belief, Halacha, Judaism, Maimonides, Mitzvot, Times of Israel, Twersky | Leave a comment

Where You Stand Depends on Where You Start

Posted on July 9, 2015 by N.S. Palmer

By N.S. Palmer We like to think that we base our beliefs only on logic and evidence, but we don’t. Don’t worry. It’s not just you. Or me. Nobody does. If we start with different assumptions, we interpret evidence differently. Based on those different interpretations, … Continue reading →