Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the tension between our perception of agency and external influences that shape our actions, often diminishing our sense of control.
Thomas Nagel's quote reflects on the complex nature of human agency, suggesting that while we strive to assert our own identity and control over our actions, we are simultaneously shaped by external forces that can diminish our sense of autonomy. The 'external view' refers to societal or situational pressures that influence our decisions, leading to an erosion of true agency as we become increasingly reactive to what occurs around us, rather than acting solely on our own volition.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal empowerment at a workshop.
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.
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.
There is a tendency to seek an objective account of everything before admitting its reality.
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.
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.
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As far as history goes I am dead. If there is something beyond I shall have to bounce back. I have found God, but he is insufficient. I am only spiritually dead. Physically I am alive. Morally I am free. The world which I have departed is a menagerie.
But the child's sob curses deeper in the silence than the strong man in his wrath!
Religion is everywhere. There are no human societies without it, whether they acknowledge it as a religion or not.
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.
People don't want other people to get high, because if you get high, you might see the falsity of the fabric of the society we live in.
There is nothing but water in the holy pools. I know, I have been swimming there. All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can’t say a word. I know, I have been crying out to them. The Sacred Books of the East are nothing but words. I looked through their covers one day sideways. What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through. If you have not lived through something, it is not true.