Official Website for Amitabha Palmer
So, I’ve been experimenting with a new way to explain major philosophical concepts and issues by video and dialogue (aka, Socratic method). I think dialogue is a much more intuitive way of understanding things. I’m not able to embed the video but here’s the link. Let me know what you think:https://plotagon.com/12235
Read More Cultural Relativism Vs Moral ObjectivismWhen I was in Japan what drove me (and most other Western foreigners) loco was the Japanese obsession with procedure and protocol. There’s a correct way to do everything in Japan and if you don’t do it that way, the outcome is often next to worthless–or at the very least the cause of furrowed brows. […]
Read More The Impoverished State of the American Campfire and How to Build A Fire ProperlyIntroductionA while back, in an attempt to assuage feelings of doubt, I wrote a post on why the main issues in epistemology matter to Joe and Joanne Shmo. Here, I will address why what appears to be an insignificant esoteric and abstract issue in epistemology has extremely important consequences to our daily lives and especially […]
Read More Why Epistemology Matters: Reason Number 2Dedication: This article is dedicated to my first philosophy professor Prof. Gordon (Langara College) as well as Prof. Sommers (UH) whose courses caused me to lose many hours of sleep for all the right reasons and whose teaching I try to emulate. IntroductionHere are some of my thoughts on teaching philosophy. Later in the post […]
Read More Teaching Philosophy and Truths To Live ByIntroductionAt some point, every semester in my critical thinking class, I issue a challenge to my students. For homework, they have to come up with their best possible argument for why it’s OK to eat factory farmed meat. Every class gives variations of the same handful of arguments and they are indeed the same arguments […]
Read More Standard Arguments for Why It’s OK to Eat Meat and Why They Are Much Weaker Than You ThinkI been having this weird experience of questioning the value of studying philosophy. Well, not so much for me personally, but for people who are not already interested. Here’s the thing: I, like pretty much anyone who teaches and studies philosophy, am passionate about it. There’s clearly no need to sell me on it. The […]
Read More Why Study Philosophy? Epistemology EditionIntroductionWelcome to Part 2 of an investigation of vaccine herd immunity through the concepts of critical thinking. The purpose of these blog entries is two-fold. One is to explore the controversy over the legitimacy of herd immunity and the second is to learn central concepts in critical thinking. Essentially, these posts are an exercise in […]
Read More Critical Thinking and Vaccine Herd Immunity Part 2: More Vaccinated People Get Measles than Non-VaccinatedTonight (Thursday Apr. 4) I went to a screening of “The Unbelievers” which was followed by a live Q&A with the stars, Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss. The event was held in the UNLV event center (Cox Pavilion) and it was very well attended. Almost all the seats were taken. I wasn’t particularly motivated to […]
Read More My Growing Disappointment with the New Atheist Movement: A Review of "The Unbelievers"IntroI was going to write about my changing ideas on libertarianism but a friend of mine requested I explain herd immunity. Of course, there is no shortage of literature on the topic, but I thought I’d discuss the topic in terms of critical thinking concepts. (Gotta have a unique perspective otherwise I might as well […]
Read More Critical Thinking and Vaccine Herd Immunity Part 1This “economics professor” meme’s been going around for at least a year now and several times I’ve vowed to take it on but never got around to it. I saw it again recently and, even though I’m supposed to be working on my syllabus, I can’t take it any more. For those of you who […]
Read More Rant: That Economics Professor/Obama/Socialism Meme
Wrestling with Philosophy 