Talk:Thomas Nagel

message: This article could really do with some discussion about his other work, such as "The view from nowhere", and "The possibility of Altruism". - Alex Gregory 26/10/05
This is one of the more interesting philosophers living. Someone really ought to expand and improve this article. I would do it myself, except that I'm certainly not up to the task. Hopefully, at some near date, this article will be as good and as comprehensive as some of the others on contemporary leading philosophers, like Searle, Putnam and Dennett.
I agree with both of the above.  I recently expanded the article, but it could still use some a lot more expansion, especially on his views outside the philosophy of mind.  I'm more familiar with his views in the philosophy of mind, as opposed to ethics, so I am not best suited to contribute in that department. -- Jaymay 06:19, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Nagel rhymes with bagel.Lestrade (talk) 10:46, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Expansion

message: There is an error here: Nagel received an Oxford BPhil in Philosophy. BPhil is a famous master's level degree at Oxford, NOT just another bachelor's degree. Department of Philosophy is the only dpt. at Oxford that stil holds on to this old style, although the meaning of BPhil has changed elsewhere in Europe.
It's not true that Dennett thinks that the consciousness is an illusion, that's a huge misunderstanding! I think it's safer just to delete the sentence about Dennett because all discussion over Dennett's theory should go into his own entry.
:The sentence about Dennett wasn't really necessary anyway, so I deleted it.  This is an article about Nagel and his views, not a survey article about consciousness and so on. -- Jaymay 06:19, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  It's like the 'g' in 'bagel' 71.116.79.36 09:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Errors

message: Is it accurate to list Nagel as an atheist?  If so, please cite a source.  The anti-reductuinalist/quasi-anti-materialist/quasi-dualist view (or, in other words, that "consciousness and subjective experience cannot be reduced to brain activity") he takes up in "What Is it Like to Be a Bat?" seems, in my mind (pun sort of intended) to imply otherwise.   Ejectgoose 23:11, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I think his views on the Philosophy of Mind are irrelevant to his theistic beliefs; I cannot think of a single time in his papers that he mentions God, and indeed dualism is not a theological belief necessarily (and indeed Nagel is not a dualist). Seeing as we have no reference either way, though, let us not mention anything about his religious beliefs. Batmanand | Talk 00:19, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Nagel wrote an article titled "Public Education and Intelligent Design"(PDF). It shed a favourable light on public education of intelligent design. Stampit (talk) 01:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Atheist? 

message: Is there a better usable picture of him? On the picture that is currently on the page he looks kind of aggressive :/ --178.1.51.198 (talk) 17:23, 19 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture 

message: It looks to me like the above two issues are major in the section 'What it's like to be something'. The section reads like a sustained defence of his views, and has only one citation, which is to his own work. Can anyone suggest some opposing views with citations which would give a more balanced picture? I am not familiar enough with his work to do this.
TonyClarke (talk) 10:47, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that this is a problem.  All the unsourced material, and OR, has to go. --Epeefleche (talk) 07:23, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV and citation issues 

message: This is mostly an essay appreciating the work, not in any way substantiated.  The entire section on Work has only one reference which is to Nagel's work and is the writer's comment.  Others are just unsubstantiated opinion with weasel words such as "probably most widely known". The comments may be a good appreciation, but this is not encyclopedic.  Most of it needs deleting. Chemical Engineer (talk) 16:57, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with the description of the article, even if not necessarily with your proposed solution. As it stands the article is in dire need of 3rd party assessments of his work. Is he influential? Or do most philosophers think he is a crack? Ignore him? Find it interesting but irrelevant? Ashmoo (talk) 12:34, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. His "What is it like to be a bat" is a foundational text in the philosophy of subjectivity and consciousness.·maunus · snunɐɯ· 17:52, 14 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Needs largely deleting 

message: Are they related? http://www.philosophy.utoronto.ca/directory/jennifer-nagel/
-- 79.65.15.149 (talk) 08:42, 30 January 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jennifer Nagel 

message: His Jewish identity was important to him as he stated and the reference I showed proves that. My edit was reverted as "irrelevant to 1st section" but the reference proves that is very relevant. Please return it. Thanks פשוט pashute ♫ (talk) 23:02, 6 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jewish - important for him and for the world