Official Website for Amitabha Palmer
This is the story of Onesimus, an African slave, who is responsible for the first major medical advancement in American history: Inoculation against smallpox. Up until the later half of the 1700s, smallpox outbreaks were a major threat to public health in the American Colonies. Smallpox virus droplets from an infected individual (usually from speaking) […]
Read More Black History and the Early History of Inoculation in AmericaThe words ‘rational’ and ‘reasonable’ are often used interchangeably in everyday language. But for philosophers they have specific meanings. These distinct meanings are important because they help to articulate the desirable features of a policy response to Covid-19 and vaccines. As with anything in philosophy (or any subject, for that matter) there isn’t unanimous agreement […]
Read More The Rational, The Reasonable, and Covid-19 Vaccine PolicySOCRATES: I walked to the mall yesterday with Rory, son of Bill Gates, to make my prayers to the God of Christmas. As this was my first celebration of his festival, I wished also to see how the ceremony would be conducted. Along the way we encountered Apple, daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow. On our way […]
Read More The Lost Socratic Dialogue on VaccinesWARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE, RACIST, ANTI-SEMITIC, AND GENERALLY UPSETTING CONTENT. IF YOU’RE HAVING A BAD DAY, YOU MAY WANT TO COME BACK ANOTHER TIME. I have created this post so others may see the content on Parler without having to create an account. The longstanding cry of the Right is that they are […]
Read More Incubator for Political Violence and Hate: Inside ParlerIn this post I cover moral arguments vaccine skeptics make for non-medical exemptions. Skip to Part 3 if you’re just interested in the argument. In Part 1, I briefly make some general comments on the norms and practices for engaging vaccine skeptics and hesitants. In Part 2, quickly outline the strongest possible interpretation of medical […]
Read More Vaccine Skeptics are Pro-Vaccine: Moral Arguments Part 2This article is written for those who have friends or family that have been mislead by anti-vaccine propaganda but aren’t yet fully indoctrinated. Those who dogmatically oppose vaccines will not change their minds so spend your time elsewhere. There are, however, many fence-sitters that can be reached through intermittent, careful, patient, and kind interactions. Changing […]
Read More Vaccine Skeptics are Pro-Vaccine: Moral ArgumentsThe very first thing you’re taught about writing in philosophy is to narrow your focus. Before every assignment, every professor will plead, “pick just one idea and develop it!” I tell my students the exact same thing. But today, I am going to do exactly the opposite. Don’t do as I do, do as I […]
Read More Problems with Pandemic PolicyAn important theme in Camus’ novel, The Plague, is exile from the self. What an odd idea! What does it mean to be exiled from yourself? We understand each word, but what is their significance together? Let’s begin with some excerpts then we’ll break it down and discuss it. Under other circumstances our townsfolk would […]
Read More Feeling Exiled from Yourself in The PlagueWelcome to Part 2 of my mini-series on better reasoning (Lesson 1). In today’s lesson we’re going to learn how to prove that you are right every single time–even when you’re not! You will learn about two important concepts: confirmation bias and counter-exampling. Confirmation bias is our brain’s tendency to see only confirming evidence for […]
Read More How to Ensure You Are Always RightThe internet is a fantastic place. You can find some of the most intelligent ideas and some of the most fantastically stupid ideas. Lately, the internet has been providing more of the latter. My response hasn’t been what I’d like it to be. For over ten years I’ve been studying conspiracism, science denialism, and political […]
Read More The Skeptic and The Fool
Wrestling with Philosophy 