The concern Nagel is bringing up early in his book is the problem of the existence of an External World. The problem simply states that the world outside of our mind does not exist and we are living in a dream from which we cannot wake up. As humans we are innately curious and that I one of the reasons that we why question the existence of an External World‚ simply because we are inquisitive beings. However there is a deeper reasoning. We take a lot of concepts from granted in our world. All of our
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Does free will exist? Its our destiny predetermines? Do we have a choice? Did we ever have a choice? According to Thomas nagel on his book “what does it all mean?” There is a specific chapter dedicated to “Free will” in which nagel himself lays out a situation about the choice of a peach and a chocolate cake piece. He’s describing the situation and the dilemma between both choices. despite the fact that you thought you had a choice‚ that you could have the peach if you want but you made the decision
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faces of their captors after just one capture. Thomas Nagel looked into the phenomenology of animals as well‚ more specifically‚ into that of bats. He believed that “the essence of the belief that bats have experience is that there is something that it is like to be a bat” (Nagel‚ 1974). What he is saying here is that for an animal to have consciousness‚ they should have the ability to see the world and experience it as no other could. Nagel goes on to say that “if the facts of experience‚ facts
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Nagel and Epicurus have conflicting views on whether to fear death or not. Although Nagel and Epicurus agree that life is good they have three main arguments in which their view upon death differs which are: “what you don’t know can’t hurt you”‚ “who suffers?” and asymmetry”. This paper will focus on those three reasons and explain both philosopher’s views. The first argument the philosopher’s opinion contrast in is “what you don’t know can’t hurt you”. Epicurus believes in egotistic hedonism which
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not have firsthand knowledge of what it is like to be that person‚ species‚ nationality‚ height or weight. Thomas Nagel uses an example very similar to this in his dualist view proposing that there is a gap between all the elements‚ descriptions and rules that are part of our concept of something‚ and the complete understanding by experiencing the sensations of being something. Nagel uses an example of being a bat as an example to show the difference between being and knowing about a bat. In our
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are becoming more prevalent in this day and age. As these online classes grow in abundance‚ the issues that affect the traditional classroom are now issues that occur in online communities. In the article‚ Read-only participants a case for student communication in online classes‚ authors Nagel‚ Blignaut‚ and Cronj (2009) tackle reasons why participation is an underlying cause for successful class completion. With the use of a learning management system (LMS)‚ students activity in their online
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Notes on “Right and Wrong” First‚ plenty of people who don’t believe in God still make judgments of right and wrong‚ and think no one should kill another for his wallet even if he can be sure to get away with it. Second‚ if God exists‚ and forbids what’s wrong‚ that still isn’t what makes it wrong. Murder is wrong in itself‚ and that’s why God forbids it (if He does.) God couldn’t make just any old thing wrong-like putting on your left sock before you’re right-simply by prohibiting it. If God would
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Thomas Nagel (1981) – How is it like to be a bat? Why does "consciousness" make the mind-body problem really intractable according to Thomas Nagel? In his text “What is it like to be a bat?” of 1974 Thomas Nagel claims that consciousness is the barrier that makes the mind-body problem unique and so hard. He states that consciousness is rarely addressed by reductionists. Because there is no really persuading reduction available‚ implausible accounts of the mental have been developed to help
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inevitable and necessary. Within my Christian beliefs‚ death is really only the beginning‚ but Nagel made it clear that he defines death in his essay as permanent regardless of his beliefs‚ so I will do the same. According to Nagel‚ if to die is considered evil then to live must be good. He goes on saying how this notion causes certain doubts or uncertainties. In my opinion‚ death is more of an anomaly‚ (which Nagel also mentions.) we don’t know exactly when we will die. I can understand that some may see
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tricky to determine what exactly comprises one’s personal identity. Although it is a difficult concept to grasp‚ philosophers such as Nagel and Chisholm attempt to construct their own position on the characteristics of the mind. By comparing Nagel and Chisholm’s positions on personal identity‚ it is evident that identity is a development of both body and mind. Nagel shows that we cannot properly identify a mind‚ and if this is the case then it is impossible to attribute personal identity to a mind
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