Thomas Nagel

Early Life and Education

Thomas Nagel was born on July 4, 1937, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), to a German-Jewish family that emigrated to the United States. He studied at Cornell University, Oxford (as a Fulbright Scholar, where he studied under J.L. Austin and H.P. Grice), and Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1963 under the supervision of John Rawls.

Philosophy of Mind: Subjectivity and Consciousness

Nagel's most famous contribution is "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" (1974), which argued that consciousness involves an irreducibly subjective character — that for any conscious organism, there is something it is like to be that organism, a subjective point of view that cannot be captured by objective, third-person scientific description. Even if we knew everything about a bat's neurophysiology and sonar system, we would not thereby know what it is like to be a bat — the subjective character of bat experience.

This argument has become the locus classicus for the problem of consciousness in the philosophy of mind. Nagel's insight is that the subjective character of experience is not an illusion or an artifact of incomplete knowledge but a real feature of the world that materialist reductionism cannot accommodate.

The View from Nowhere (1986) developed this theme into a broader philosophical program. Nagel argued that there is a fundamental tension between the objective, "view from nowhere" that science aspires to and the subjective, first-person perspective from which we live, act, and experience. Neither can be reduced to the other; a complete understanding of reality must find a way to integrate both perspectives.

Ethics and Political Philosophy

Nagel has made significant contributions to moral and political philosophy. The Possibility of Altruism (1970) argued that recognizing the reality of other persons and their interests generates reasons for action independent of one's own desires — a defense of moral objectivism against subjectivism and relativism.

Mortal Questions (1979) collected influential essays on death, the absurd, moral luck, sexual perversion, and war, each displaying Nagel's characteristic method: starting from common intuitions, pressing them to their limits, and revealing deep philosophical problems.

Equality and Partiality (1991) explored the tension between the demands of impartial justice and the legitimate claims of personal interests and attachments.

Mind and Cosmos (2012)

Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False (2012) was Nagel's most controversial work. He argued that the materialist, reductionist account of nature — which holds that consciousness, reason, and value can be fully explained by physics, chemistry, and Darwinian evolution — is inadequate. Nagel did not endorse theism or intelligent design but called for a broader naturalism that includes teleological principles: the universe may have an inherent tendency toward the development of consciousness and reason.

The book generated fierce debate, with many scientists and philosophers accusing Nagel of giving comfort to anti-scientific movements, while others defended his right to challenge philosophical orthodoxy.

Nagel has been University Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University since 1980.