What Does It All Mean? By Thomas Nagel

2210 Words9 Pages
having control of my life and doing things I get personal satisfaction from makes my life meaningful. Where is my mind? I don’t like the first sentence Thomas Nagel uses to open up chapter two. “ …Your own mind is the only thing you can be sure of.” What Does It All Mean? by Thomas Nagel. I’m not sure that my mind was all there when I was nineteen. Nagel argues that your experiences and senses make up what you believe. Therefor, creating a setting in which your reality happens, but that reality is just all in your mind. And like in his example this is what creates the floor under your feet. I do not agree with this what so ever. When I was nineteen I could say I honestly did not take into consideration that I had a brain or a mind. The cops in Downtown Miami were chasing me. I had a can of beer, I was claiming the train post and publically drinking. As they chased me, I had at the time what seemed like a good idea to jump in between the bums sleeping in the sidewalk and try to blend in. The reality of it was that I had never experienced anything like this…show more content…
He is a psychology Professor at Stanford University. He mentioned that through observation and imitation children of violent parents would become violent themselves. Now this argument is fascinating, because you can either decide to have free will or stick to what Bandura said and be an example of determinism. If your parents were violent, will you decide to finally break the cycle and use your free will and you freedom of choice to change the way you act as a parent and start a new generation that is positive and willing to be better? Or because of the violence that occurred in your family will you decide to continue the same cycle, because according to science you are likely to become a violent parent your self? See although environmental determinism plays a huge role in this example, as a human you have the choice to change your
Show More
Related

  • Thomas Nagel's Epicurean Argument

    1493 Words  | 6 Pages

    In this essay I am going to delve into Thomas Nagel’s article Death, to establish why he believes death to be bad, and arrive at the conclusion that death is not to be feared; for when you die you merely enter a state of nothingness. At the crux of Nagel’s argument, lies the claim that death is bad primarily because it deprives us of life. Nagel believes life to be all that we have, thus making life precious. As Nagel’s argument unfolds, it becomes apparent that the Epicurean argument (the belief

    Read More

  • Thomas Nagel What's Wrong With Terrorism Summary

    899 Words  | 4 Pages

    essay I argue Thomas Nagel’s concept about terrorism being morally bad because of the non-combatant lost lives by defending that terrorism is bad, yet is rare and does not equate as much to the civilians that have lost their lives through daily life incidents and accidents (In the book, the sentence I am against is: “Terrorism, however, ignores this distinction”).Terrorism has happened often throughout the history of man and yet still has to be removed from society and the world. What is wrong is that

    Read More

  • Issues In Public Administration

    8134 Words  | 33 Pages

    ISSUES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (PAHS 742) SEMINAR QUESTION What is public management? Is it a genuinely new area of academic inquiry, or is it merely an old subject that is being dusted off and recycled? Explain carefully the relationship between the research field of “public administration” and that of “public management”. Is the latter a synonym for the former? Is it a particular kind of specialization within public administration? Does it designate a coherent theoretical and / or methodological

    Read More

More about What Does It All Mean? By Thomas Nagel

Open Document