Quotes by Thomas Nagel

“Absurdity is one of the most human things about us: a manifestation of our most advanced and interesting characteristics. ”

“I should not really object to dying were it not followed by death.”

“The human will to believe is inexhaustible”

“The existence of conscious minds and their access to the evident truth of ethics and methematics are among the data that a theory of the world and our place in it has yet to explain.”

“The great cognitive shift is an expansion of consciousness from the perspectival form contained in the lives of particular creatures to an objective, world-encompassing form that exists both indivi...”

“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 te...”

“Both theism and evolutionary naturalism are attempts to understand ourselves from the outside”

“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 ...”

“I believe the defenders of intelligent design deserve our gratitude for challenging a scientific world view that owes some of the passion displayed by its adherents precisely to the fact that it is...”

“The universe has become not only conscious and aware of itself but capable in some respects of choosing its path into the future--though all three, the consciousness, the knowledge, and the choice,...”

“The widespread willingness to rely on thermonuclear bombs as the ultimate weapon displays a cavalier attitude toward death that has always puzzled me. My impression is that...most of the defenders ...”

“If we tried to rely entirely on reason and pressed it hard, our lives and beliefs would collapse a form of madness that may actually occur if the inertial force of taking the world and life for gr...”

“I do not find theism any more credible than materialism as a comprehensive world view. My interest is in the territory between them.”

“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 conscious beings will be recognized as...”

“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 mor...”

“I believe that there is a necessary connection in both directions between the physical and the mental, but that it cannot be discovered a priori. Opinion is strongly divided on the credibility of s...”

“Everyone is entitled to commit murder in the imagination once in a while, not to mention lesser infractions.”

“Consciousness is what makes the mind–body problem really intractable.”

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

“Any reductionist program has to be based on an analysis of what is to be reduced. If the analysis leaves something out, the problem will be falsely posed.”