Action Quote by 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 how to decide what to believe.” quote by Thomas Nagel — Download Open image

“To look for a single general theory of how to decide the right thing to do is like looking for a single theory of how to decide what to believe.”

Thomas Nagel

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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 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 presented as an argument is really a rationalization. This can undermine our confidence in the original method or practice only by giving us reasons to believe something else, so that finally we have to think about…

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…

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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“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, in virtue of their objectionable moral doctrines, social policies, and political influence. Nor am I referring to the association of many religious beliefs with superstition and the acceptance of evident empirical falsehoods. I am talking about…

Thomas Nagel

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 natural selection can operate. I believe that teleology is a naturalistic alternative that is distinct from all three of the other candidate explanations: chance, creationism, and directionless physical law. To avoid the mistake that White finds…

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 the natural order that does not reveal it as something to be expected can aspire even to the outline of completeness. And if physical science, whatever it may have to say about the origin of life,…

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 ourselves, not surprisingly, in one that contains life. But that is a cop-out, which dispenses with the attempt to explain anything. And without the hypothesis of multiple universes, the observation that if life hadn't come into…

Thomas Nagel

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Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.

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As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behaviour. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to…

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It's easy to say, let's go in and get the bad guys. But you have a divided country of Sunnis and Shias. The United States goes and takes action there on behalf of the Iraqi government. You've got Iran coming in and saying we're going to stand with (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri) al-Maliki, so now we're aligning ourselves with Iran,…

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For comedy action, I must know the language.

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Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make…

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