---
title: "11 Ifs Quotes By Thomas Nagel"
description: "11 Ifs quotes by Thomas Nagel. Plus more from Thomas Nagel and more Ifs sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b8/thomas-nagel-9440_action_a-theory-of-motivation-is-defective-if-i_116629.jpg"
---

> [A theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/a-theory-of-motivation-is-defective-if-it-renders-intelligible/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b8/thomas-nagel-9440_action_a-theory-of-motivation-is-defective-if-i_116629.jpg)

> [If life is not real, life is not earnest, and the grave is its goal, perhaps it's ridiculous t otake ourselves so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-life-is-not-real-life-is-not-earnest-and-the-grave-is-its-goal/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/691/thomas-nagel-9440_earnest_if-life-is-not-real-life-is-not-earnest_2491972.jpg)

> [If I thought that everything I did was determined by my circumstancse and my psychological condition, I woudl feel trapped.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-i-thought-that-everything-i-did-was-determined-by-my-circumstancse/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82a/thomas-nagel-9440_conditions_if-i-thought-that-everything-i-did-was-d_816811.jpg)

> [Any reductionist program has to be based on an analysis of what is to be reduced. If the analysis leaves something out,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/any-reductionist-program-has-to-be-based-on-an-analysis-of-what-is-to/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75f/thomas-nagel-9440_analysis_any-reductionist-program-has-to-be-based_2022110.jpg)

> [I'm not sure I understand how responsibility for our choices makes sense if they are not determined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/i-m-not-sure-i-understand-how-responsibility-for-our-choices-makes/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/thomas-nagel-9440_choice_i-m-not-sure-i-understand-how-responsibi_2940187.jpg)

> [fundamentally an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism--something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/fundamentally-an-organism-has-conscious-mental-states-if-and-only-if/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bae/thomas-nagel-9440_conscious_fundamentally-an-organism-has-conscious_2250266.jpg)

> [If you want the truth rather than merely something to say, you will have a good deal less to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-you-want-the-truth-rather-than-merely-something-to-say-you-will/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29a/thomas-nagel-9440_deals_if-you-want-the-truth-rather-than-merely_1537599.jpg)

> [ If sub specie aeternitatis \[from eternity's point of view\] there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that does not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-sub-specie-aeternitatis-from-eternity-s-point-of-view-there-is-no/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4f/thomas-nagel-9440_absurd_if-sub-specie-aeternitatis-from-eternity_2095998.jpg)

> [If we tried to rely entirely on reason, and pressed it hard, our lives and beliefs would collapse - a form of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-we-tried-to-rely-entirely-on-reason-and-pressed-it-hard-our-lives/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1e/thomas-nagel-9440_belief_if-we-tried-to-rely-entirely-on-reason-a_732792.jpg)

> [If a psychological Maxwell devises a general theory of mind, he may make it possible for a psychological Einstein to follow with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-a-psychological-maxwell-devises-a-general-theory-of-mind-he-may/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c4/thomas-nagel-9440_certain_if-a-psychological-maxwell-devises-a-gen_1573407.jpg)

> [Once we have taken the backward step to an abstract view of our whole system of beliefs, evidence, and justification, and seen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/once-we-have-taken-the-backward-step-to-an-abstract-view-of-our-whole/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/thomas-nagel-9440_abstract_once-we-have-taken-the-backward-step-to_1137721.jpg)

## Other authors on Ifs

## 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/every-subjective-phenomenon-is-essentially-connected-with-a-single/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/reason-is-universal-because-no-attempted-challenge-to-its-results-can/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [“A comprehensively reductive conception is favored by the belief that the propensity for the development of organisms with a subjective view must have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/a-comprehensively-reductive-conception-is-favored-by-the-belief-that/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [A theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/a-theory-of-motivation-is-defective-if-it-renders-intelligible/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [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;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/it-isn-t-just-that-i-don-t-believe-in-god-and-naturally-hope-there-is/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [What is it like to be a bat? What is it like for a bat to be a bat?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-bat-what-is-it-like-for-a-bat-to-be-a-bat/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [To look for a single general theory of how to decide the right thing to do is like looking for a single theory of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/to-look-for-a-single-general-theory-of-how-to-decide-the-right-thing/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [“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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/in-speaking-of-the-fear-of-religion-i-don-t-mean-to-refer-to-the/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/philosophy-is-the-childhood-of-the-intellect-and-a-culture-that-tries/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/common-sense-doesn-t-have-the-last-word-in-ethics-or-anywhere-else/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [“I am drawn to a fourth alternative, natural teleology, or teleological bias, as an account of the existence of the biological possibilities on which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/i-am-drawn-to-a-fourth-alternative-natural-teleology-or-teleological/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [“The existence of consciousness is both one of the most familiar and one of the most astounding things about the world. No conception of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/the-existence-of-consciousness-is-both-one-of-the-most-familiar-and/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [“Are there any alternatives? Well, there is the hypothesis that this universe is not unique, but that all possible universes exist, and we find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/are-there-any-alternatives-well-there-is-the-hypothesis-that-this/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [If we tried to rely entirely on reason, and pressed it hard, our lives and beliefs would collapse - a form of madness that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/if-we-tried-to-rely-entirely-on-reason-and-pressed-it-hard-our-lives/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/eventually-i-believe-current-attempts-to-understand-the-mind-by/)

[Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/)

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                        "text": "fundamentally an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism--something it is like for the organism.",
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                        "text": "If a psychological Maxwell devises a general theory of mind, he may make it possible for a psychological Einstein to follow with a theory that the mental and the physical are really the same. But this could happen only at the end of a process which began with the recognition that the mental is something completely different from the physical world as we have come to know it through a certain highly successful form of detached objective understanding. Only if the uniqueness of the mental is recognized will concepts and theories be devised especially for the purpose of understanding it.",
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                        "text": "Once we have taken the backward step to an abstract view of our whole system of beliefs, evidence, and justification, and seen that it works only, despite its pretensions, by taking the world largely for granted, we are not in a position to contrast all these appearances with an alternative reality. We cannot shed our ordinary responses, and if we could it would leave us with no means of conceiving a reality of any kind.",
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