Thomas Nagel
Thomas Nagel
Thomas Nagelis an American philosopher, currently University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University in the NYU Department of Philosophy, where he has taught since 1980. His main areas of philosophical interest are philosophy of mind, political philosophy and ethics...
NationalityYugoslavian
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth4 July 1937
imagination murder commit
Everyone is entitled to commit murder in the imagination once in a while, not to mention lesser infractions.
may absurd meaningless-life
Life may be not only meaningless but absurd.
world materialism conscious
Materialism is incomplete even as a theory of the physical world, since the physical world includes conscious organisms among its most striking occupants.
conceited psychology may
A person may be greedy, envious, cowardly, cold, ungenerous, unkind, vain, or conceited, but behave perfectly by a monumental act of the will.
passion world maelstrom
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 maelstrom of impulses and passions, of cruelty, ecstacy, and madness, than is apparent to the civilized being who glides on the surface and fits smoothly into the world.
growing-up philosophy childhood
Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.
interesting characteristics manifestation
Absurdity is one of the most human things about us: a manifestation of our most advanced and interesting characteristics.
god religious believe
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 religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, I hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.
believe despair matter
If sub specie aeternitatis there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that does not matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair.