Thomas Nagel's Mortal Questions explores some fundamental issues concerning the meaning, nature and value of human life. Questions about our attitudes to death, sexual behaviour, social inequality, war and political power are shown to lead to more obviously philosophical problems about personal identity, consciousness, freedom, and value. This original and illuminating book aims at a form of understanding that is both theoretical and personal in its lively engagement with what are literally issues of life and death.
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Editorial Reviews
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'Thomas Nagel writes with all the clarity and all the plainness of style that analytical philosophers have always admired ... if anyone can seize and keep the general reader's attention, it must be Thomas Nagel with this book.' New Statesman
'... a fine achievement. Few professional philosophers have written so rationally and agreeably on such a variety of difficult and serious problems.' P. F. Strawson, New York Review of Books
'These essays ... convey to an interested non-philosopher a real sense of the excitement and significance of philosophical enquiry.' R. A. Duff, The Literary Review
'... a fine achievement. Few professional philosophers have written so rationally and agreeably on such a variety of difficult and serious problems.' P. F. Strawson, New York Review of Books
'These essays ... convey to an interested non-philosopher a real sense of the excitement and significance of philosophical enquiry.' R. A. Duff, The Literary Review
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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
New to Nagel? Read "The View From Nowhere" instead,
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This review is from: Mortal Questions (Canto) (Paperback)
Although this book is very interesting and readable, it is ultimately a collection of largely unrelated essays by Nagel, most of which were written in the 1970's. For the Nagel enthusiast, it is a must. For the beginner, I would HIGHLY recomend Nagel's "The View From Nowhere". For one, "Nowhere" is shorter and therefore, I think, more accessable to the general reader. Like "Mortal Questions", it is also a collection of essays on various topics in philosophy, but with a much broader subject area. While Nagel's topics in "Mortal Questions" include war, disobediance, gender equality and the politics of preference (all matters of immanent concern in 1970's America), "Nowhere" tackles free will, personal identity and the pursuit of objectivity in a lucid and straightforward manner.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than sex,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mortal Questions (Canto) (Paperback)
I read this book many years ago, and even now it sticks in my mind. This book covers a whole range of important issues in a way which is always accessible, yet surprising.While many academic philosophers are lost in esoterica, Nagel brings a disciplined and creative mind to bear on "Mortal Questions." His thinking is sophisticated, but his writing style makes it seem easy. Among the topics he covers are the meaning of life and the nature of sex. He begins the latter essay with the intriguing opening "There is something to be learned about sex from the fact that we think it can be perverted."
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mortal Questions,
This review is from: Mortal Questions (Canto) (Paperback)
Thomas Nagel is one of the relatively few contemporary philosophers who not only addresses important subjects of general intellectual interest, but writes very intelligently and readably -- not the typical academic technical type.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
If death is the unequivocal and permanent end of our existence, the question arises whether it is a bad thing to die. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
impersonal concern, explanatory inference, antecedent circumstances Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Harvard University Press, Bernard Williams, Difference Principle, John Rawls, Journal of Philosophy, Original Position, Philosophical Review, Public Affairs, Robert Nozick, Kegan Paul, Princeton University, Vietnam War, Basic Books, Cambridge University Press, Derek Parfit, Saul Kripke New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
If death is the unequivocal and permanent end of our existence, the question arises whether it is a bad thing to die. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
impersonal concern, explanatory inference, antecedent circumstances Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Harvard University Press, Bernard Williams, Difference Principle, John Rawls, Journal of Philosophy, Original Position, Philosophical Review, Public Affairs, Robert Nozick, Kegan Paul, Princeton University, Vietnam War, Basic Books, Cambridge University Press, Derek Parfit, Saul Kripke New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 21
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- Philosophical Investigations (3rd Edition) by Ludwig Wittgenstein on page 189, and page 206
- A Theory of Justice by John Rawls on page 95, and page 108
- Naming and Necessity by Saul A. Kripke on page 164, and page 188
- Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick on page 86, and page 122
- Bisected Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga on page 148, and page 158
See all 21 books this book cites
- Greater Good: The Case for Proportionalism (Moral Traditions Series) by Garth L. Hallett on 5 pages
- Consciousness and Its Objects by Colin McGinn on 5 pages
- Good and Evil: An Absolute Conception by Raimond Gaita on 4 pages
- The End of Literary Theory by Stein Haugrom Olsen on 4 pages
- Exploring Philosophy: The Philosophical Quest (Introducing Philosophy) by Brenda Almond on 4 pages
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