Nearly 50 years ago, philosopher Thomas Nagel published a now-classic thought experiment on the nature of consciousness. “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” is an attempt to do what is ultimately ...

In a 1974 paper on consciousness, the philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked: What is it like to be a bat? Nagel’s argument—that we are unable to explain consciousness in purely physical terms—has ...

WHAT is it like to be a bat? Philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 question has evolved to dominate our thinking on consciousness. Nagel’s point, simply put, is that even if we could fly, and navigate using ...

"Consciousness" refers to any subjective experience - the delectable taste of Nutella, the sharp sting of an infected tooth, the slow passage of time when bored, the sense of vitality and anxiety just ...

A philosopher’s broadside against Darwinism and materialism is mostly an instrument of mischief. Thomas Nagel, a professor of philosophy and of law at New York University, has made his reputation over ...

The hard kernel of the mind–body problem — how we get first-person experience out of a purely physical object like the brain — was famously articulated by Thomas Nagel in a paper entitled ‘What Is It ...

Christof Koch is chief scientist and president of the Allen Institute of Brain Science, and the author of the forthcoming book “The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can’t Be ...