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PHILOSOPHY PROFILE

Thomas Nagel

1974

START WITH THE PUZZLE

After every observable fact is collected, does the fact of what it is like for that creature remain?

Evidence-backed moments
2
Timeline events
1
Verified places
0

This is a guided intellectual story assembled from verified claims, works, and events in which this thinker actually appears. It avoids filling gaps with a generic encyclopedia biography.

Why this thinker is worth following

Story 1What makes a mind and a self persist?

Nagel — Does the bat’s point of view survive physical explanation?

The question that opens it

After every observable fact is collected, does the fact of what it is like for that creature remain?

Follow the argument, not just the name
  1. 1

    Nagel characterizes a conscious organism as one for which there is something it is like to be that organism.

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

      Thomas Nagel · 1974

      Locator: pp. 436–438

      Open source
  2. 2

    The bat case asks how objective physical explanation could include the subjective character of experience; it does not deny that bats have experiences.

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Animal Consciousness

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §2.2 Phenomenal Consciousness; discussion of Nagel 1974

      Open source
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Decisive moments in time

  1. October 1974

    Nagel's article makes the subjective character of consciousness a central problem in philosophy of mind.

    PerspectiveOpen in question

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