Consciousness Quotes by Thomas Nagel

8 Consciousness quotes by Thomas Nagel

All Consciousness quotes Thomas Nagel’s page

Thomas Nagel provides eight tight, analytical observations that probe the hard problem of awareness, perfect for a quick philosophical dip.

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every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will…

Thomas Nagel

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“The existence of consciousness is both one of the most familiar and one of the most astounding things about the world. No…

Thomas Nagel

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Without consciousness the mind-body problem would be much less interesting. With consciousness it seems hopeless.

Thomas Nagel

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Any reductionist program has to be based on an analysis of what is to be reduced. If the analysis leaves something out,…

Thomas Nagel

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fundamentally an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism--something…

Thomas Nagel

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The universe has become not only conscious and aware of itself but capable in some respects of choosing its path into the…

Thomas Nagel

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What we take ourselves to be doing when we think about what is the case or how we should act is something…

Thomas Nagel

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Consciousness is what makes the mind-body problem really intractable.

Thomas Nagel

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More by Thomas Nagel

every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that…

Thomas Nagel

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Reason is universal because no attempted challenge to its results can avoid appealing to reason in the end-by claiming, for example, that what was…

Thomas Nagel

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“A comprehensively reductive conception is favored by the belief that the propensity for the development of organisms with a subjective view must have been…

Thomas Nagel

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A theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.

Thomas Nagel

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It isn't just that I don't believe in God, and naturally, hope there is no God. I don't want there to be a God;…

Thomas Nagel

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What is it like to be a bat? What is it like for a bat to be a bat?

Thomas Nagel

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To look for a single general theory of how to decide the right thing to do is like looking for a single theory of…

Thomas Nagel

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“In speaking of the fear of religion, I don’t mean to refer to the entirely reasonable hostility toward certain established religions and religious institutions,…

Thomas Nagel

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Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.

Thomas Nagel

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Common sense doesn't have the last word in ethics or anywhere else, but it has, as J. L. Austin said about ordinary language, the…

Thomas Nagel

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“I am drawn to a fourth alternative, natural teleology, or teleological bias, as an account of the existence of the biological possibilities on which…

Thomas Nagel

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“The existence of consciousness is both one of the most familiar and one of the most astounding things about the world. No conception of…

Thomas Nagel

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“Are there any alternatives? Well, there is the hypothesis that this universe is not unique, but that all possible universes exist, and we find…

Thomas Nagel

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If we tried to rely entirely on reason, and pressed it hard, our lives and beliefs would collapse - a form of madness that…

Thomas Nagel

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Eventually, I believe, current attempts to understand the mind by analogy with man-made computers that can perform superbly some of the same external tasks…

Thomas Nagel

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