George N. Schlesinger

George N Schlesinger (Nov 7, 1925 – June 27, 2013) was a philosopher, rabbi, and author.

He made major contributions in the areas of philosophy of religion, and philosophy of science.

George Schlesinger, whose Hebrew name is Harav Nattan ben Harav Shmuel, was born in Budapest, Hungary on November 7, 1925.

In the late 1930s, before World War II, the Nazis were approaching Hungary.

At the age of 13 or 14, in 1939, Schlesinger, his brother, and parents were able to obtain a visa and escape to Palestine.

They settled in Bnei Brak, living next door to Rav Karelitz, who later became famous and known as the Hazon Ish.

Schlesinger later studied at the Yeshiva Kol Torah and the Chevron Yeshiva.

At 23, Schlesinger worked as a Rosh Mesivta (teacher) at Yeshivat Bnei Akiva in Kfar ha-Roeh.

He was soon thereafter ordained as a Rabbi in 1948.

In 1950 at Kfar ha-Roeh, he met his wife, Shulamith.

Unlike many of the other Yeshiva students, Schlesinger had a desire to study English and secular studies in addition to his Torah learning.

Shortly after getting married, Schlesinger and his wife, Shulamith, moved to England.

He taught at a Jewish institution in Manchester, England.

He went on to receive his B.Sc.

and M.Sc in Physics at the University of London.

Schlesinger and his wife then moved to Australia.

He received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Melbourne in 1959.

In Melbourne, Schlesinger helped run a network of orthodox schools and published a periodical for children and parents.

He also was a volunteer rabbi in Canberra, Australia where his son David was born.

After receiving his PhD, from 1960 until 1967, he taught at the Australian National University, in Canberra, and reached the rank of Reader, equivalent to a full professor.

He taught and conducted research as a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 1967 to 1999, and as a visiting professor at several other universities.

His teaching and research interests included philosophy of time, philosophy of logic, and theism.

He authored 10 books and more than 300 articles, earned many awards, and gave many presentations as a sought after speaker.

His presentations at a summer conference resulted in the Philosophy of Time Society.

This society is still active to this date.

Schlesinger was also an ordained rabbi, and authored many articles in the area of philosophy of Judaism.

He led services, and taught at the University of North Carolina Hillel, as well as yeshivas and synagogues in England, Australia, and Israel.

As an author, he has been largely collected by libraries worldwide.

In 1967, Schlesinger moved from Australia to North Carolina, where he began teaching and conducting research as a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

As a professor, Schlesinger won many awards including, in 1975, the university wide Tanner Award "in recognition of excellence in inspiractional teaching".

In 1990, UNC's Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies presented him with the Henry Horace Williams Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

While at Chapel Hill, Schlesinger also gave talks at the University Hillel.

He and his son David would attend services on Friday night and Saturday, walking in the opposite direction of everyone else going to the football games.

Schlesinger wrote many books and articles in the areas of philosophy of religion, theism, the problem of evil, philosophy of science, philosophy of time, philosophy of logic, philosophy of physics, metaphysics, philosophy of probability, philosophy of language, and ethics.

He continued to work at the university until his retirement in 1999.

During the time he was at the University of North Carolina, he was also a visiting professor many times at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

He was also a visiting professor at several other universities, including University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Texas.

His main areas of teaching and research at Chapel Hill, were philosophy of religion, and philosophy of science.

He was particularly interested in confirmation theory, philosophy of physics, and philosophy of time.

He taught a course on space and time jointly with physics professor Hendrik van Dam.