Mortal questions

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• dulse · Oct 14, 2012 · Recommends

  I'd be interested to see a list of the best philosophy books for non-philosophers. I'm not a philosopher or close to the field, but I always thought Thomas Nagel's Mortal Questions was a big hitter. Not so much for an individual essay but the combination of essays - What Is it Like to be a Bat? and The Absurd are both classics in my mind. Basically every essay in that short book…

  on “Surprisingly undervalued books” ↗
• telemachos · Jul 10, 2010 · Recommends

  …very rewarding) A few contemporary things: Gilbert Ryle: The Concept of Mind Willard Van Orman Quine: From a Logical Point of View J. L. Mackie: Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong Thomas Nagel: Mortal Questions (short essays, well-written, very accessible) Bernard Williams: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy Michael Smith: The Moral Problem Specialist, technical, odd: The Frege Reader by Michael Beaney…

  on “Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?” ↗
• username223 · Mar 30, 2017 · Recommends

  Whoa, time warp to a previous life... Whatever you decide about his beliefs, Nagel is a wonderful writer. Pick up a copy of Mortal Questions if you get a chance.

  on “What Is It Like to Be a Bat? (1974) [pdf]” ↗
• leakydropout · Oct 14, 2017 · Mentions

  "What is it like to be a bat?" is a paper by American philosopher Thomas Nagel, first published in The Philosophical Review in October 1974, and later in Nagel's Mortal Questions (1979). In it, Nagel argues that materialist theories of mind omit the essential component of consciousness, namely that there is something that it is (or feels) like to be a particular, conscious thing.…

  on “There's No Fire Alarm for Artificial General Intelligence” ↗