All Thomas Nagel Quotes
- The more details we learn about the chemical basis of life and the intricacy of the genetic code, the more unbelievable the standard historical account… Account
- If you want the truth rather than merely something to say, you will have a good deal less to say. Deal
- Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up. Childhood
- It is prima facie highly implausible that life as we know it is the result of a sequence of physical accidents together with the mechanism… Accidents
- Leading a human life is a full-time occupation, to which everyone devotes decades of intense concern. Concern
- Perhaps the belief in God is the belief that the universe is intelligible, but not to us. Belief
- What is it like to be a bat? What is it like for a bat to be a bat? Animal
- I'm not sure I understand how responsibility for our choices makes sense if they are not determined. Choices
- If I thought that everything I did was determined by my circumstancse and my psychological condition, I woudl feel trapped. Condition
- What we take ourselves to be doing when we think about what is the case or how we should act is something that cannot be… Act
- Consciousness is what makes the mind-body problem really intractable. Body
- Life may be not only meaningless but absurd. Absurd
- If life is not real, life is not earnest, and the grave is its goal, perhaps it's ridiculous t otake ourselves so seriously. Earnest
- 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 as… Analogies
- Absurdity is one of the most human things about us: a manifestation of our most advanced and interesting characteristics. Absurdity
- The point is... to live one's life in the full complexity of what one is, which is something much darker, more contradictory, more of a… Apparent
- I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are… Atheism