Thomas Nagel

Thomas Nagel ( born July 4, 1937 in Belgrade ) is an American philosopher who teaches at New York University School of Law and edited a wide range of topics. Nail studied at Cornell University (BA 1958), Oxford University and Harvard University ( Ph.D. 1963). He currently holds teaching positions including at the University of California, Berkeley and at Princeton University. His pupils include Susan Wolf, Samuel Scheffler, and Shelly Kagan.

Philosophy of mind

In the philosophy of mind nail is " asked What is it like to be a? " With his 1974 essay published known. Regarding where he enters reductionist efforts contrary to the explanation of consciousness. No matter how much we know about the brain of a being, such as on the one bat (hence the title ), so we can never open up its experience perspective. For example, if we know exactly what happened a bat in the brain when it perceives objects by their sonar -like perception apparatus, so we know the neural correlates of such perceptual experience, so we still do not know what it is or how it feels for the bat to have such a sonar -like perceptions - " what is it like". And we can probably never know. Here the natural sciences basic knowledge barriers are obviously set. Nail essay triggered a wide debate in analytical philosophy ( the qualia debate ), whose protagonists today are philosophers like David Chalmers, Paul Churchland, Daniel Dennett, Joseph Levine and Michael Tye. A similar criticism of the knowledge claim of the natural sciences in the 19th century had represented the neurophysiologist Emil Du Bois- Reymond.

Ethics

Nagel has also written texts on ethics and political philosophy. His dissertation The Possibility of Altruism (1970 ) was supervised by John Rawls and deals mainly from the Kantian perspective with the universalizability of moral motives.

In his later work, particularly in The View from Nowhere (1986 ), Nagel refers developed in his philosophy of mind distinction between subjective and objective perspective on the practical philosophy. He distinguishes between actor and actor- relative neutral reasons, both of which would relevant for moral action. On this basis, he sits down on the one hand from the ethical consequentialism (especially the dominant in the U.S. utilitarianism ), who compares the different states of the world from the perspective of a neutral observer, and from a purely deontological ethics, the moral obligations to do or not do certain actions considers actor- relative. Nail criticism of consequentialism was later further developed by his student Samuel Scheffler.

Wolfgang Kersting speaks for the characterization of nail position of a tense dualism that was inescapable, and in the fully draw the human- sensible existence. This is to Selbstranszendierung able and encouraged, but could never take the subjective perspective.

Works

German

  • Michael Gebauer (ed. ): The Limits of Objectivity. Lectures on Human Values ​​. In: Loeb Classical Library. 8721, Reclam, Stuttgart, 1991 ( Original title: The Limits of Objectivity, 1979, translated by Michael Gebauer ), ISBN 3- 15-008721 -X.
  • The view from nowhere. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1992 ( Original title: The View from Nowhere, 1986, translated by Michael Gebauer ), ISBN 3-518-58116-3.
  • Michael Gebauer (eds.): A Treatise on equality and partiality, and other writings on political philosophy. Schöningh, Paderborn; Munich; Vienna; Zurich 1994 ( Original title: Equality and Partiality, 1991), ISBN 3-506-76097-1.
  • The last word. In: Loeb Classical Library. 18021, Reclam, Stuttgart, 1999 ( Original title: The Last Word, 1997), ISBN 3- 15-018021 -X.
  • Michael Gebauer; Hans -Peter Schütt ( ed.): The possibility of altruism. 2nd edition. Philo, Berlin; Vienna 2005 ( Original title: The Possibility of Altruism, 1970/8, translated by Michael Gebauer, Hans -Peter Schütt), ISBN 3-86572-066-8.
  • Michael Gebauer (eds.): Recent issues. In: EVA Paperback. New Advanced German edition. 258 European publishing house, Hamburg 2008 ( Original title: Mortal Questions, 1979, translated by Karl -Ernst Prankel ), ISBN 978-3-434-46171-5.
  • What does it all mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy. In: Loeb Classical Library. 18630 ​​, Reclam, Stuttgart, 2008 ( Original title: What Does It All Mean A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy, 1987, translated by Michael Gebauer? ), ISBN 978-3-15-018630-5.
  • Spirit and the cosmos: Why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is wrong as well as secure. Suhrkamp, Berlin 2013 ( Original title: Mind and Cosmos: Why the Neo - Darwinian materialist conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False, 2012, translated by Karin Wördemann ), ISBN 978-3-518-58601-3.

English

  • Other Minds. Critical Essays 1969-1994. Paperback edition. Oxford University Press, New York 1999 ( Hardcover 1995), ISBN 0-19-513246-7.
  • Liam Murphy: The Myth of Ownership. Taxes and Justice. Paperback edition. Oxford University Press, New York, 2004 ( hardcover 2002), ISBN 0-19-517656-1.
  • Concealment and Exposure. And Other Essays. Paperback edition. Oxford University Press, New York, 2004 ( hardcover 2002), ISBN 0-19-517977-3.
  • Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament. Essays 2002-2008. Oxford University Press, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-539411-5.
  • Mind and Cosmos: Why the Neo - Darwinian materialist conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False. Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0199919758.
  • What Is It Like to Be a Bat? In: The Philosophical Review. Vol 83, No. 4 (1974 ), pp. 435-450 (online) (PDF, 196 kB). Peter Bieri (ed.): What is it like to be a bat? In: Analytical philosophy of mind. Königstein 1981 ( new editions in 1993 and 2007).

Awards

2008 Nail was awarded the Balzan Prize ( Practical Philosophy ).

Echo sounding Michael Tye (philosopher) Emil du Bois-Reymond Kantianism Integrated Authority File
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