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Full Idea
If the subjective character of experience is fully comprehensible only from one point of view, then any shift to greater objectivity does not take us nearer to the real nature of the phenomenon: it takes us further away from it.
Gist of Idea
We can't be objective about experience
Source
Thomas Nagel (What is it like to be a bat? [1974], p.174)
Book Ref
Nagel,Thomas: 'Mortal Questions' [CUP 1981], p.174
A Reaction
We can, however, talk to one another about our subjectivity, and compare notes, and such 'inter-subjectivity' may be one approach to objectivity. We must concede Nagel's point, but we also miss something about a stone if we must remain outside of it.
| 4883 | Nagel's title creates an impenetrable mystery, by ignoring a bat's ways that may not be "like" anything [Dennett on Nagel] |
| 4989 | Physicalism should explain how subjective experience is possible, but not 'what it is like' [Kirk,R on Nagel] |
| 3286 | An organism is conscious if and only if there is something it is like to be that organism [Nagel] |
| 3287 | We can't be objective about experience [Nagel] |
| 3288 | Can we describe our experiences to zombies? [Nagel] |