Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The View from Nowhere' and 'Mind in a Physical World'

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2 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy

3242	Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture can't skip it [Nagel]
	Full Idea: Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up.
	From: Thomas Nagel (The View from Nowhere [1986], Intro)
	A reaction: Can he really mean that a mature culture doesn't need philosophy?

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / b. Philosophy as transcendent

3241	It seems mad, but the aim of philosophy is to climb outside of our own minds [Nagel]
	Full Idea: We are trying to climb outside of our own minds, an effort that some would regard as insane and that I regard as philosophically fundamental.
	From: Thomas Nagel (The View from Nowhere [1986], Intro)
	A reaction: It is not only philosophers who do this. It is an essential feature of the mind, and is inherent in the concept of truth.