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Thomas Nagel Quotes about Psychology

All Thomas Nagel Quotes Belief Consciousness Psychology quotes Reality Universe
A person may be greedy, envious, cowardly, cold, ungenerous, unkind, vain, or conceited, but behave perfectly by a monumental act of the will.

A person may be greedy, envious, cowardly, cold, ungenerous, unkind, vain, or conceited, but behave perfectly by a monumental act of the will.

Thomas Nagel
Conceited, Psychology, May
Thomas Nagel (2012). “Mortal Questions”, p.32, Cambridge University Press

To look for a single general theory of how to decide the right thing to do is like looking for a single theory of how to decide what to believe.

Thomas Nagel
Believe, Psychology, Looks
Thomas Nagel (1991). “Mortal Questions : Canto”, p.135, Cambridge University Press

I conceive ethics as a branch of psychology.

Thomas Nagel
Psychology, Branches, Action
Thomas Nagel (2016). “The Possibility of Altruism”, p.3, Princeton University Press

Common sense doesn't have the last word in ethics or anywhere else, but it has, as J. L. Austin said about ordinary language, the first word: it should be examined before it is discarded.

Thomas Nagel
Common Sense, Psychology, Ordinary
Thomas Nagel (1989). “The View From Nowhere”, p.166, Oxford University Press

The inclusion of consequences in the conception of what we have done is an acknowledgement that we are parts of the world, but the paradoxical character of moral luck which emerges from this acknowledgement shows that we are unable to operate with such a view, for it leaves us with no one to be.

Thomas Nagel
Character, Views, Psychology
Thomas Nagel (2012). “Mortal Questions”, p.38, Cambridge University Press

Once we see an aspect of what we or someone else does as something that happens, we lose our grip on the idea that it has been done and that we can judge the doer and not just the happening.

Thomas Nagel
Ideas, Judging, Psychology
Thomas Nagel (1991). “Mortal Questions : Canto”, p.38, Cambridge University Press

A theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.

Thomas Nagel
Motivation, Psychology, Behaviour
Thomas Nagel (2016). “The Possibility of Altruism”, p.34, Princeton University Press

equally real at all stages of his life; specifically, the fact that a particular stage is present cannot be regarded as conferring on it any special status.

Thomas Nagel
Real, Psychology, Special
Thomas Nagel (2016). “The Possibility of Altruism”, p.60, Princeton University Press

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