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What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy, by Thomas Nagel
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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. Arguing that the best way to learn about philosophy is to think about its questions directly, Thomas Nagel considers possible solutions to nine problems--knowledge of the world beyond our minds, knowledge of other minds, the mind-body problem, free will, the basis of morality, right and wrong, the nature of death, the meaning of life, and the meaning of words. Although he states his own opinions clearly, Nagel leaves these fundamental questions open, allowing students to entertain other solutions and encouraging them to think for themselves.
- Sales Rank: #37325 in Books
- Published on: 1987-10-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 5.38" h x .23" w x 8.06" l, .22 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 112 pages
Review
"A very well written book...great for introducing the topics to an intro-level class. It touches on key issues and brings up the relevant points, yet all in relatively short and easy-to-understand chapters. Would be a great supplement for a course in metaphysics."--Jack Bowen, DeAnza College
"An excellent introduction; it introduces students to some of the important philosophical questions without overwhelming them with terminology or history."--Jason A. Beyer, College of Lake County
"A phenomenal amount of material in a tiny book coupled with humor."--Joan Anderson, Orange Coast College, CA
"A good philosophy book for neophytes. It is penetrable for the beginner and comprehensive enough to elucidate a spectrum of traditional philosophic issues."--David Wolf, SUNY at Albany
"A good, clearly interesting book to use for an Introduction to Philosophy course. Thomas Nagel has done a fine job."--Stephen Joseph, Framingham State College
"This little book by Nagel is quite simply the best introduction to philosophy ."--Graham Oddie, University of Colorado at Boulder
"The perfect title for a writing that offers no answers while helping the student formulate their own responses to life's greatest questions."--JoAnn L. Smith, North Central Bible College
"An outstanding introductory textbook to philosophy. The best textbook I know to give freshmen an idea of what philosophy is."--Ran Lahay, Southern Methodist University
"We are already using this book as a text, and we are enjoying it."--Martin E. Bayang, New Mexical State University
"An outstanding introductory framework to many of the most important problems in philosophy. It is clear and simple--even my freshman can read it--yet never simplistic...Ties in well with many traditional theories."--Richard M. Wolters, Doane College
About the Author
Thomas Nagel is at New York University.
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Nagel should have done far better than this
By Tarik D. LaCour
After reading Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Edward Craig and feeling not all that impressed or introduced to the subject properly, I looked at the suggested readings at the end of the book. The first book listed was What Does it All Mean: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy by eminent philosopher Thomas Nagel. Since I was still looking for the best introduction book to philosophy to recommend to friends and students, I bought it.
True to its title, the book is very short only slightly over 100 pages, so it can be read in a day or two. However, the book is not so much an introduction to philosophy as it is an intro to Nagel's opinions about various philosophical problems. For example, a good introduction to philosophy would talk about the five main branches of philosophy (aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, metaphysics) and give a definition of each, but Nagel fails to do so. Instead he starts off with the question of whether or not we exist, similar to Rene Descartes in Meditations on First Philosophy. While that question is of course an important one, it is too advanced for a person who has no idea what philosophy is about. It would not be a shock if a novice to philosophy closed the book after the first few pages and thought that philosophers were strange people who asked ridiculous questions.
Also, Nagel has a very annoying habit of only criticizing views that he is against, but he not the view he stands for. For example, when he talks about ethics, he criticizes divine command theory, but deontology, the view that Nagel espouses, gets no criticism at all. Likewise, on the mind-body problem, Nagel disagrees with materialism (the belief that everything is composed of matter, so the mind is as well), so he criticizes it. But again, he offers no criticism of his own belief. This is not philosophy, it is special pleading.
I had begun this book with high hopes, but was left disappointed. As I said before, The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell remains at this point the best introductory text to philosophy. But, I will keep looking at others and evaluating them.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Bright and fluent
By HH
This is a very short yet captivating introduction to central philosophical questions in different areas by one of the famous analytic philosophers of our current day. In extremely clear and simple prose, Nagel tries to demonstrate the uniqueness of philosophical problems and questions. His presentation is inevitably non-neutral, however. For example, in the chapters about morality, death, and meaning, one clearly recognizes details from his arguments in "The View from Nowhere" and "Mortal Questions".
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Short but penetrating
By Camber
At about 100 pages in a somewhat large font, this book is indeed very short; you can read it in a day or two, if you have some time. I've read and thought about philosophy a lot over the years, so I didn't actually need to read another introduction to the subject, but I've recently read some of Thomas Nagel's essays and I was impressed, so I thought I'd give this book a try.
Overall, I'm not disappointed. Nagel displays the rigorous hairsplitting characteristic of analytic philosophy, but he applies this rigor to big and important questions, rather than intellectual trivia which is of only academic interest. As a result, he's a penetrating and balanced philosopher, so he manages to cover a lot of ground in this book. He wrestles earnestly with the questions, and thus shows us what philosophy looks like when it's done well. He writes unpretentiously, but these questions are difficult, so you have to focus and engage actively with the material. In fact, rather than claiming to answer the questions, he shows that the questions lead to further questions, with firm conclusions being seemingly or actually impossible. He does state his opinions (and I agree with nearly all of them), but he does this only as an aside, thus emphasizing that readers need to evaluate the arguments and potential conclusions for themselves.
The only drawback is that, because the book is so short, many readers will be left wanting a lot more, and readers already well versed in philosophy might not get much from the book. But for an audience which is new to philosophy, the book packs in plenty of content, and such readers may be shocked to discover how philosophical enquiry can contradict and undermine 'common sense'. From that perspective, I'm almost tempted *not* to recommend this book!
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