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Description for The Last Word
paperback. Thomas Nagel presents a sustained defence of reason against the attacks of subjectivism, delivering systematic rebuttals of relativistic claims with respect to language, logic, science and ethics. Num Pages: 160 pages, bibliography, index. BIC Classification: HPK; HPM. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 218 x 143 x 10. Weight in Grams: 254.
In The Last Word, Thomas Nagel, a leading philosopher and Professor of Law, presents a sustained defense of reason against the attacks of subjectivism, delivering systematic rebuttals against its many relativistic claims in the fields of language, logic, ethics, and science. He proposes that reason reflects objective principles whose validity is independent of different points of view, and continues to argue that reason is universal because its only prerequisite is the ability to think systematically and with intelligence. Dismissing relativism as theoretical chic and inconsequential intellectual flourish, he predicts its ultimate stultifying effect on public discourse. The Last Word is a vigorous defense of reason and its universal narratives. Resisting what he describes as the eventual demise of intellectual discourse, Nagel's work sets a new standard in the debate: this book presents the clarity and simplicity of objective reason. Nagel's construction of a coherent framework beyond subjectivism is refreshing, timely, and impressive, and should generate intense interest both within and outside the philosophical community.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2001
Publisher
Oxford University Press, U.S.A. United States
Number of pages
160
Condition
New
Number of Pages
160
Place of Publication
Oxford, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780195149838
SKU
V9780195149838
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-99
About Thomas Nagel
Dr. Thomas Nagel is a Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University.
Reviews for The Last Word
Review from previous edition "Nagel's book is a ringing defense of the rationalist conception of reason, and an uncompromising attack on the subjectivist conception...The case that Nagel presents in these chapters should disturb all those who have been lulled, or bludgeoned, into the flabby relativism that is so rampant in contemporary intellectual culture..Nagel's argument is not only correct, it is also urgent...The Last Word is a book that should be read and pondered in this golden age of relativism."
Colin McGinn, The New Republic
"Thomas Nagel stands out among today's best philosophers in retaining closer links with big puzzles and mysteries that first attract most people to philosophy. He has a livelier sense of their depth and power than is conspicuous elsewhere in the academic study of philosophy, and admirably resists the widespread tendency to dent a thing's existence because it is difficult or perhaps impossible to understand."
The Times Literary Supplement
"...(Nagel's) book, which is concise, spare, and well-argued, will prolong discussion by setting it on a new path...what he has to say is challenging, impressive, and thought-provoking."
International Philosophical Quarterly
"...now comes Professor Nagel's fascinating, even brilliant, book..."
Commonweal
Colin McGinn, The New Republic
"Thomas Nagel stands out among today's best philosophers in retaining closer links with big puzzles and mysteries that first attract most people to philosophy. He has a livelier sense of their depth and power than is conspicuous elsewhere in the academic study of philosophy, and admirably resists the widespread tendency to dent a thing's existence because it is difficult or perhaps impossible to understand."
The Times Literary Supplement
"...(Nagel's) book, which is concise, spare, and well-argued, will prolong discussion by setting it on a new path...what he has to say is challenging, impressive, and thought-provoking."
International Philosophical Quarterly
"...now comes Professor Nagel's fascinating, even brilliant, book..."
Commonweal