more from this thinker     |     more from this text


Single Idea 3295

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / a. Mind ]

Full Idea

The problem of reconciling the objective and subjective points of view takes its purest form in a sense of incredulity that one should be anyone in particular.

Gist of Idea

Inner v outer brings astonishment that we are a particular person

Source

Thomas Nagel (Subjective and Objective [1979], p.206)

Book Ref

Nagel,Thomas: 'Mortal Questions' [CUP 1981], p.206


A Reaction

Nice observation. This idea has always struck me forcibly, and seems to be one of those basic intuitions which motivates philosophy, and yet the subject has almost nothing to say about it. Of course you are you, or you wouldn't be amazed by it…


The 9 ideas with the same theme [general ideas about the mind]:

Nous is unlimited, self-ruling and pure; it is the finest thing, with great discernment and strength [Anaxagoras]
The Stoics think that soul in the narrow sense is nothing but reason [Stoic school, by Frede,M]
The human mind is the very idea or knowledge of the human body [Spinoza]
Mind is never isolated, but only exists in its interactions [Dewey]
There are no such things as minds, but people have mental properties [Davidson]
The mind is a property, or it is baffling [Rorty]
I regard the mind-body problem as wide open, and extremely confusing [Kripke]
Inner v outer brings astonishment that we are a particular person [Nagel]
The two ways proposed to distinguish mind are intentionality or consciousness [Molnar]