Mind and Cosmos

What is this book about?

A 2012 book by the philosopher Thomas Nagel, whose subtitle says outright that "the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false". Nagel does not appeal to religion. Instead he works from three problems — consciousness, reason, and value — to argue that a purely physical picture, in which natural selection explains everything, cannot account for why subjective experience exists, why we can know the world through reason, or how value judgements are possible. Consciousness and value, he suggests, may be basic features of the universe.

Why read it?

Its weight lies in this: at a time when materialism is nearly the default assumption, a mainstream philosopher openly dissents — and not by appeal to faith but by argument. It forces you to face questions usually dodged: why does consciousness feel like anything at all? How is reason itself to be explained by evolution? Are value judgements an illusion? Whether or not you accept Nagel's conclusions, the sharpness of the questions is worth the read.

Core Ideas

• Consciousness, subjective experience, and value cannot be fully explained by purely physical laws.
• Reducing mind to mere physical and chemical reactions is a shallow view of nature.
• Our very capacity to know the world through reason is hard to explain by natural selection alone.
• Consciousness and value may be basic features of the universe, calling for a new conception of nature.

What questions does this book try to answer?

• Why does materialism fail to explain mind and cosmos fully?
• What might contemporary science be overlooking in the problem of consciousness?

Who should read it?

For readers of philosophy of mind and cognitive science, and for those already sceptical of materialism. The argument is dense and uses professional philosophical concepts, so it needs patience; without some familiarity with current debates in philosophy of mind it will be demanding, which is also why it rewards.

How to Read It

The source note admires Nagel's nerve: dissenting in an age of materialism, he calls it shallow to reduce mind to physical and chemical reactions. One addition: this is a book that raises problems rather than offering a finished alternative — Nagel admits he does not know which new conception of nature should replace materialism. His conjecture that consciousness is a basic feature of the universe is seen by many philosophers and scientists as close to panpsychism and hard to test. Read it for the hardness of the problem, not for a ready answer.