- Hardcover: 156 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA; First Edition edition (24 April 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195108345
- ISBN-13: 978-0195108347
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.4 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,129,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
The Last Word
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Review
"Nagel's book is a ringing defense of the rationalist conception of reason and an uncompromising attack on the subjectivist conception.... Nagel applies his general anti-subjectivist argument in a number of areas, including language, logic, arithmetic and ethics....The case that Nagel presents in these chapters should disturb all those who have been lulled, or bludgeoned, into the flabby relativism that is so rampant in contemporary intellectual culture....Nagel's argument is not only correct, it is also urgent....The Last Word is a book that should be read and pondered in this golden age of subjectivism."--Colin McGinn, The New Republic
"Thomas Nagel stands out among today's best philosophers in retaining closer links with the big puzzles and mysteries that first attract most people to philosophy. He has a livelier sense of their depth and power than is conspicuous elsewhere in the academic study of philosophy, and admirably resists the widespread tendency to deny a thing's
Product Description
If there is such a thing as reason, it has to be universal - it must work the same way for everyone. Reason must reflect objective principles whose validity is independent of our point of view. To reason is to think systematically in ways that anyone looking on ought to be able to recognize as correct. But this generality of reason is what relativists and subjectivists deny in ever-increasing numbers. And such subjectivism is not just an inconsequential intellectual flourish or badge of theoretical chic. It is exploited to deflect argument and to belittle the pretensions of the arguments of others. The continuing spread of this relativistic way of thinking threatens to make public discourse increasingly difficult and to exacerbate the deep divisions of our society. In The Last Word, Thomas Nagel, one of the most influential philosophers writing in English, presents a sustained defence of reason against the attacks of subjectivism, delivering systematic rebuttals of relativistic claims with respect to language, logic, science, and ethics. His work sets a new standard in the debate on this crucially important question and should generate intense interest both within and outside the philosophical community.
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First Sentence
This discussion will be concerned with an issue that runs through practically every area of inquiry and that has even invaded the general culture-the issue of where understanding and justification come to an end. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
This discussion will be concerned with an issue that runs through practically every area of inquiry and that has even invaded the general culture-the issue of where understanding and justification come to an end. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Nagel takes on a daunting task: to refute the current philosophical fashion, postmodernism. Going against the grain of contemporary academic thought, Nagel asserts that there are indeed truths that do not depend on our social or cultural perspective. He defends objective truth in logic, science, and even ethics. I have some sympathy for his position, and appreciate the many good points he asserts. In the end, though, I think his refutations are not quite up to the task he has set himself. Still, it is a good effort...and in any event a readable window onto an important contemporary battle in philosophy.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A Rorty-bashing classic. A must read for pragmatists. Whether Nagel has really given the last word in favor of the realists is another question.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a graduate student in Religious Studies and Philosophy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to reference it in my papers. Although, this may not have been the author's intent, his logical and objective approaches to reason, help support the universal and exceptionless principles of the faith! Should be a must-read for any theologian as pointed out in recent religious periodicals like Christianity Today.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A polished perspective
As a graduate student in Particle Accelerator Psychology and Nordic Religious Studies, Nagel's The Last Word strikes me as an analytic philosophers last ditch effort to go to... Read more
Published on 14 April 1999
Visionary, Yet Not A Car Battery
In this ether-soluble book, Nagel embraces a huge task: even though no one knows what the first word was (linguists are still debating whether it was "cavalcade," or... Read more
Published on 14 April 1999
Typical academic self-satisfaction.
It would seem both from the title and the short reviews posted above that Nagel's latest is a daring re-affirmation of rationality and "standards" in a world gone awry... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 1998
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