Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament
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"These essays are all written in Nagel's clear and familiar style; they combine substantial arguments and insights with the charms of a friendly conversation partner. Highly recommended to those interested in theism versus atheism and the current science-religion debate." --Religous StudiesReview
Product Description
This volume collects recent essays and reviews by Thomas Nagel in three subject areas. The first section, including the title essay, is concerned with religious belief and some of the philosophical questions connected with it, such as the relation between religion and evolutionary theory, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, and the significance for human life of our place in the cosmos. It includes a defense of the relevance of religion to science education. The second section concerns the interpretation of liberal political theory, especially in an international context. A substantial essay argues that the principles of distributive justice that apply within individual nation-states do not apply to the world as a whole. The third section discusses the distinctive contributions of four philosophers to our understanding of what it is to be human--the form of human consciousness and the source of human values.
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6 reviews
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
27 Dec 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a breeze to read. I read it in a day. Thomas Nagel's enormous strength (akin to Richard Rorty's) is his calm explanatory clarity. He is very good at getting to the heart of a thing, then discussing it with insight and measure. For example, there is an essay on Nietzsche in this collection that, for its clean, seemingly effortless prose---and the light that he casts upon his subject---is worth the price of the whole book. Nagel also discusses Hobbes, Rawls, Michael Sandel, Catharine MacKinnon, and Sartre admirably.
In this particular collection of essays, however, it is on the subject of religion and atheism that Nagel shines most brightly. He is very good at talking about naturalism, Richard Dawkins, and Intelligent Design. By contrast with the entrenched factions dug in around these subjects, Nagel is sane and insightful. My impression is that Nagel, when push comes to shove regarding purpose in the universe, inclines toward Camus's notion of the absurd. But he is just agnostic enough to keep other possibilities in play, and so not shut down discussion with eye-rolling contempt. This makes him, apparently, noxious in the eyes of New Atheists. And well he should be, for his is a still open mind.
In this particular collection of essays, however, it is on the subject of religion and atheism that Nagel shines most brightly. He is very good at talking about naturalism, Richard Dawkins, and Intelligent Design. By contrast with the entrenched factions dug in around these subjects, Nagel is sane and insightful. My impression is that Nagel, when push comes to shove regarding purpose in the universe, inclines toward Camus's notion of the absurd. But he is just agnostic enough to keep other possibilities in play, and so not shut down discussion with eye-rolling contempt. This makes him, apparently, noxious in the eyes of New Atheists. And well he should be, for his is a still open mind.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
useful collection
12 July 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a collection of essays, save for the title essay, that were published previously and for the most part in non-specialist journals (The New Republic, NYRB, LRB, TLS, etc.), so they are accessible to the reader with no training in philosophy and make for pleasant reading. Nagel groups them under three headings: Religion, Politics and Humanity. All are thoughtful and thought-provoking, a judgment that will be of no surprise to readers of his work, and some are controversial. In "Public Education and Intelligent Design," for example, he argues that the "political urge to defend science education against the threats of religious orthodoxy . . . has resulted in a counter orthodoxy, supported by bad arguments, and a tendency to overstate the legitimate scientific claims of evolutionary theory." Although these essays will probably be thought to fall squarely in the so-called "analytic" tradition, they are neither narrowly technical nor riddled with jargon. Any open-minded reader will both enjoy and benefit from them.
Voice of Sanity in a Crazed Dialectic
18 April 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Finally, someone who can logically express himself about the feud between creationists and Intelligent Design advocates on the one hand and the equally irrational, over-reacting (albeit my fellow) atheists about the existence of God and the creation of life on our planet. Reading Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens and even Lawrence Krauss, inter alia, argue against creationist ideas is like listening to the biblical prodigal son fight with dad before he left home. One wonders whether either of the surviving two will become born-again believers.
Read Thomas Nagel's book!!! It is imperative reading.
Read Thomas Nagel's book!!! It is imperative reading.
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