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Thomas Nagel

Thomas Nagel Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Thomas Nagel Quotes

“The problem is one of opposition between subjective and objective points of view. There is a tendency to seek an objective account of everything before admitting its reality. But often what appears to a more subjective point of view cannot be accounted for in this way. So either the objective conception of the world is incomplete, or the subjective involves illusions that should be rejected.”

WorldWayShouldProblemRealityViewsIllusionAccountsPoint Of ViewObjectivesTendenciesOppositionConceptionRejectedSubjectiveIncompleteAdmitting
Book:Mortal Questions : Canto
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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 that cannot be reconciled with a reductive naturalism, for reasons distinct from those that entail the irreducibility of consciousness. It is not merely the subjectivity of thought but its capacity to transcend subjectivity and to discover what is objectively the case that presents a problem....Thought and reasoning are correct or incorrect in virtue of something independent of the thinker's beliefs, and even independent of the community of thinkers to which he belongs. (p. 71)”

ThinkingShouldReasonProblemBeliefCommunityConsciousnessCasesVirtueCapacityIndependentReasoningThinkerSubjectivityNaturalism
Book:Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False
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