Thomas Nagel
Philosopher of Mind
關於
Thomas Nagel (b. 1937) is an American philosopher whose 1974 essay 'What Is It Like to Be a Bat?' gave consciousness studies its sharpest definition: an organism is conscious if there is something it is like to be that organism. The essay argued that no amount of objective, physical description captures the subjective character of experience — a challenge that predates and frames the hard problem. His later work, including The View from Nowhere, explores the tension between subjective and objective standpoints across ethics and epistemology.
主要貢獻
- Defined consciousness as 'something it is like to be' an organism (1974) — the field's most durable formulation
- Argued that objective physical description cannot capture subjective experience
- Framed the subjective/objective tension in The View from Nowhere (1986)
- Set the stage for Chalmers' hard problem two decades before it was named
- Kept philosophy honest about the limits of third-person science on first-person facts
論文與出版物
思想連結
David Chalmers
影響了他/她心智哲學家
〈Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness〉（1995）的核心用語直接取自 Nagel：「正如 Nagel（1974）所說，成為一個有意識的有機體，是有某種感受的。」Nagel 早已論證：任何客觀描述都觸及不到經驗的主觀性格；Chalmers 為那份剩餘取了名字——困難問題——並為它在整場辯論的架構中安置了位置。這也是為什麼今天回頭讀那篇蝙蝠論文，會覺得它提早了二十年就把困難問題問了出來。
consc.net · doi.org
丹尼爾·丹尼特
觀點交鋒哲學家與認知科學家
Nagel 在《紐約書評》（2017）以〈意識是一種錯覺嗎？〉為題評論《From Bacteria to Bach and Back》，並自問自答：一個人對自身意識之真實，正是唯一無法被蒙蔽的一件事。Dennett 主張的恰好相反——那場被感受到的內在展演，是大腦對自己運行的一層使用者錯覺。本站的問題〈什麼是意識？〉把兩人的切法並置呈現，因為在他們之間，並不存在第三種立場。
nybooks.com
Annaka Harris
影響了他/她作家暨意識研究者
《Conscious》（2019）以 Nagel 1974 年的那道公式為地基——若「成為那個有機體」本身帶有某種感受，牠就是有意識的——然後往 Nagel 停步之處再推一步。如果我們說不出這句話對哪些物質組態為真，泛心論就不再顯得荒謬，而開始像個懸而未決的問題。她的筆法是導覽者而非辯護者，但這趟導覽總是一再回到那隻蝙蝠身上。
Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind (2019) · sloww.co · doi.org
