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Thomas Nagel
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What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy Paperback – Import, 18 May 1989

4.3 out of 5 stars 842
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In this cogent and accessible introduction to philosophy, the distinguished author of Mortal Questions and The View From Nowhere sets forth the central problems of philosophical inquiry for the beginning student.
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  1. Part of series
    Very Short Introduction
  2. Print length
    112 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press Inc
  5. Publication date
    18 May 1989
  6. Dimensions
    0.76 x 13.46 x 20.07 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    0195174372
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0195174373
  9. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Thomas Nagel is Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press Inc (18 May 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195174372
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195174373
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.76 x 13.46 x 20.07 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 842

About the author

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Thomas Nagel

Thomas Nagel

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Thomas Nagel (/ˈneɪɡəl/; born July 4, 1937) is an American philosopher, currently University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University in the NYU Department of Philosophy, where he has taught since 1980. His main areas of philosophical interest are philosophy of mind, political philosophy and ethics.

Nagel is well known for his critique of reductionist accounts of the mind, particularly in his essay "What Is it Like to Be a Bat?" (1974), and for his contributions to deontological and liberal moral and political theory in The Possibility of Altruism (1970) and subsequent writings. Continuing his critique of reductionism, he is the author of Mind and Cosmos (2012), in which he argues against a reductionist view, and specifically the neo-Darwinian view, of the emergence of consciousness.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by en:User:Jmd442 [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
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Kyle Fraser
5.0 out of 5 stars perfect cheers
Reviewed in Australia on 6 December 2022
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perfect cheers
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Bonjello Remigio Figueroa
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction to Philosophy
Reviewed in Australia on 22 March 2020
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I'm studying Bachelor of Theology and my Introductory Philosophy Unit has been patterned with this book by our lecturer, and so this book is essential, and a great introduction to general philosophical ideas that are not only useful to Theology but to life in general as well.
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James
5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing read!
Reviewed in Australia on 3 November 2019
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Well written and easy to read essays on life’s big questions. Guaranteed to get you thinking in ways you hadn’t done previously.
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TheAtheist
5.0 out of 5 stars Good start for Philosophy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 March 2024
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I'd rather not elaborate on the obvious. If you love philosophy you would pick up a book like this.
Or start with Plato. Or any other Philosopher. Doesn't matter.
Just keep wondering.
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Ricardo Garcia Mattei
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly fluid and well built novel
Reviewed in Brazil on 30 August 2018
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Amazing work, very well written, sophisticated characters that show real live since the beginning of the novel. Impossible to stop reading.
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Angie Boyter
5.0 out of 5 stars Big ideas in a nice little package!
Reviewed in the United States on 18 December 2017
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It would be easy to feel a little put off or maybe insulted by the first sentence of this book: "This book is a brief introduction to philosophy for people who don't know the first thing about the subject." Well, I do know the FIRST thing about philosophy (but maybe not the second or third), enough to be familiar with Nagel's famous essay "What is It Like to Be a Bat?" , which made me believe his assurances that you need not be a student of philosophy to understand the book but also to believe that it would be worth reading. I was right.
What Nagel does in this short, very understandable book is to present the biggest problems in philosophy today without feeling it necessary to refer to any ancient Greeks or medieval scholars or even any post-modern deconstructionists. If you really do know nothing about philosophy you will be able to understand the problems and, given that you are inquisitive enough to want to read the book in the first place, find at least some of them very provocative. If you are a student of philosophy you will find this a very handy condensation of philosophical problems, one that may give you material to explain your interest to others.
11 people found this helpful
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Gianmaria
5.0 out of 5 stars Nagel, uno dei Filosofi contemporanei che più mi piace
Reviewed in Italy on 20 October 2018
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Ho comprato il libro per un corso della mia facoltà (premetto che non leggo praticamente mai ed è difficile che un libro attragga).
Questo libro mi ha stupito. Nagel attraverso i suoi discorsi apparentemente semplici riesce a coinvolgere il lettore in un modo naturale, mettendoci di prima persona davanti a 9 grandi problemi della Filosofia Occidentale (che ancor oggi non sono stati risolti). Sebbene non sia troppo complicato da leggere, ho notato la mancanza di qualche punteggiatura qua e là. Nel complesso è un libro consigliato ad amanti della Filosofia ma anche a quelle persone che a volte si perdono a fissare il muro mezz'ora, facendosi domande come "che ne resterà di me dopo la mia morte?".
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Nery Alaev
5.0 out of 5 stars Great company, very responsive and very fast
Reviewed in Germany on 5 January 2017
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Really great company, was very fast in responding when something was needed.

Also kept in touch over email to check that all is fine, was really positively impressed
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