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
