Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.
Thomas NagelRead
It is prima facie highly implausible that life as we know it is the result of a sequence of physical accidents together with the mechanism of natural selection. We are supposed to abandon this naïve response, not in favor of a fully worked out physical/chemical explanation but in favor of an alternative that is really a schema for explanation, supported by some examples. What is lacking, to my knowledge, is a credible argument that the story has a nonnegligible probability of being true.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote challenges the notion that life was formed purely by random accidents and natural selection, suggesting a need for a more credible explanation.
In this quote, Thomas Nagel critiques the widely accepted scientific view that life emerged through chance events and natural selection. He argues that this perspective is overly simplistic and lacks a compelling argument for its validity. Instead, he calls for an alternative schema that could offer a more profound understanding of life's origins, indicating that the current explanations do not account for the complexities of existence.
Themes
LifePhilosophyExistenceUnderstandingExplanation
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the origins of life during a philosophy class.
More from Thomas Nagel
All quotes →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 NagelRead
There is a tendency to seek an objective account of everything before admitting its reality.
Thomas NagelRead
Altruism itself depends on a recognition of the reality of other persons, and on the equivalent capacity to regard oneself as merely one individual among many.
Thomas NagelRead
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 NagelRead
The external view [of agency] forces itself on us at the same time that we resist it. One way this occurs is through the gradual erosion of what we do by the subtraction of what happens.
Thomas NagelRead
Similar quotes
Thus with the year Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me; from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of Nature's works, to me expung'd and raz'd, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
John MiltonRead
We do not have to make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:9 says that God forgives us because He is ‘just.’ That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In religion we earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we just receive it.
Timothy KellerRead
By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none.
Charlie ChaplinRead
It is goodness that gives to a neighborhood its beauty. One who is free to choose, yet does not prefer to dwell among the good - how can he be accorded the name of wise?
ConfuciusRead
What's left is palimpsest—one memory bleeding into another, overwriting it.
Natasha TretheweyRead
No social stability without individual stability.
Aldous HuxleyRead