R. Shalom's discussions reveal a careful study of Maimonides, R. Levi b. Gershom and R. Crescas, as well as other Jewish writers and non-Jewish philosophers, especially Averroes. He sometimes expounds, in different passages, inconsistent positions on the same question. This imprecision is due to the fact that R. Shalom did not attach importance to all the topics which he discussed. There are just a few subjects which were fundamentally significant for him because of their religious implications, and, when dealing with those, he was careful to state a definitive and consistent position. However, the various technical philosophic problems upon which he touched concerned him less, and he did not always exercise the same care with them. In general, the philosophic sections of Neveh Shalom have a strong apologetic motif. They are designed less to discover new truths than to defend, first the doctrines of the Jewish religion, as R. Shalom understood them, and then, the philosophic positions of Maimonides. His methods of argumentation in these sections are appropriate to that end.