Books by Thomas Nagel

Bevidstheden er et besynderligt fænomen. Den er omnipotent, men kan ikke ses. Uanset mængden af forskning i synapser og kemiske tilstande i hjernen lader vi ikke til at nærme os nogen løsning på gåden om den. Men hvorfor er bevidstheden egentlig så svær at få styr på? I sin berømte flagermusartikel fra 1974 gør Thomas Nagel op med fysikalistiske teorier om sindet og hidtidige løsninger på sjæl-legeme-problemet. Bevidsthedsfilosofferne har nemlig altid løbet panden mod en mur, når de har overset de subjektive egenskaber ved bevidst erfaring, og dermed reduceret målet for deres undersøgelser med objektive tredjepersonsbeskrivelser efter naturvidenskabeligt forbillede. Men det vigtigste for enhver forståelse af bevidsthed er, at det at være en bevidsthed opleves på en bestemt måde, og det kan kun forstås fra et subjektivt perspektiv. Hvordan er det at være en flagermus? er en del af bogserien AFTRYK, der samler korte og vedkommende filosofiske tekster med en væsentlig virkningshistorie. Oliver Kauffmann har skrevet introduktion til teksten, der gør den relevant for studerende såvel som læsere, som ønsker at få indblik i kritikken af en verdensanskuelse “under evighedens synsvinkel”.

Thermochemical gas-solid reactions, as well as adsorption processes, are currently of significant interest for the design of heat storage systems. This book provides detailed models of these reactions and processes that account for heat and mass transport, chemical and physical reactions, and possible local thermal non-equilibrium.

A collection of articles that focuses on moral questions about war. It covers a range of topics from several points of view by writers from the fields of political science, philosophy, and law.

In this book, effective computational methods to facilitate those pivotal simulations using open-source software are introduced and discussed with a special focus on the coupled thermo-mechanical behavior of the rock salt.

Thomas Nagel's Mortal Questions explores some fundamental issues concerning the meaning, nature and value of human life. Questions about our attitudes to death, sexual behaviour, social inequality, war and political power are shown to lead to more obviously philosophical problems about personal identity, consciousness, freedom and value. This original and illuminating book aims at a form of understanding that is both theoretical and personal in its lively engagement with what are literally issues of life and death.

Just as there are rational requirements on thought, there are rational requirements on action. This book defends a conception of ethics, and a related conception of human nature, according to which altruism is included among the basic rational requirements on desire and action.