The Last Word

by Nagel, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780195149838
• ISBN10: 0195149831
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR

Summary

In The Last Word, Thomas Nagel, a leading philosopher and Professor of Law, presents a sustained defense of reason against the attacks of subjectivism, delivering systematic rebuttals against its many relativistic claims in the fields of language, logic, ethics, and science. He proposes thatreason reflects objective principles whose validity is independent of different points of view, and continues to argue that reason is universal because its only prerequisite is the ability to think systematically and with intelligence. Dismissing relativism as theoretical chic and inconsequentialintellectual flourish, he predicts its ultimate stultifying effect on public discourse. The Last Word is a vigorous defense of reason and its universal narratives. Resisting what he describes as the eventual demise of intellectual discourse, Nagel's work sets a new standard in the debate: this bookpresents the clarity and simplicity of objective reason.Nagel's construction of a coherent framework beyond subjectivism is refreshing, timely, and impressive, and should generate intense interest both within and outside the philosophical community.

Author Biography

Thomas Nagel is Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University. He is the author of The View from Nowhere, What Does It All Mean?, The Possibility of Altruism, Mortal Questions, Equality and Partiality, and Other Minds: Critical Essays, 1969-1994.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(10)
Why We Can't Understand Thought from the Outside	13	(24)
Language	37	(18)
Logic	55	(22)
Science	77	(24)
Ethics	101	(26)
Evolutionary Naturalism and the Fear of Religion	127	(18)
Index	145