Nagel Quote of the Day
The last paragraph of the introduction of his classic The View from Nowhere.
In days when claims of inventing new, revolutionary solutions to philosophical problems seem to be standard practice, and when self-proclaimed innovators don’t share Nagel’s ‘feeling’ anymore, I find this 25 years old paragraph still refreshingly honest.
Fabio Cunctator
Your remark on Nagel’s honesty is right on the mark. This is clear too in his much later essays, e.g. 1997′s The Last Word: “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, 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.” This up-front-ness about what he wants (and doesn’t want) to be true is one of the most refreshing, and humane, qualities one can ask for in a philosopher– even if one wants very different things to be true.
Thanks for the reference!