Nagel: Introduction to Philosophy – Part 1: Other Minds

Thomas Nagel – A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy | Part 1: Other Minds.

Thomas Nagel talks about how hard it is to understand what other people are thinking. This is what he discusses in the chapter "Other Minds." He says it is hard to know what others think, and I agree with that opinion. Finding answers or opinions in other people’s minds is very difficult.

According to him, we do not know what other people are thinking. We can only see how someone acts, but we cannot know what they are truly thinking or feeling. To show that we cannot be certain others feel the same, even if they have similar experiences, he gives examples like eating chocolate ice cream.

One question he asks is how you can tell if the chocolate ice cream you and your friend are eating tastes the same. Even if you taste your friend’s ice cream and believe it tastes the same, your friend might not feel the same way. He says we can only try to understand how someone feels by observing their behavior. This is an interesting concept for me because we try to understand an idea that is impossible to reach, which is far beyond our minds.

He also wonders if our beliefs about how our senses work apply to everyone. How do you know if something that tastes bad to you also tastes bad to someone else? When we are unsure about what others are feeling, it shows that we do not understand what is happening in their minds.

There are also questions about whether other minds exist besides our own, or how we can know if a friend is conscious. People might look and act like complicated machines, even if they do not think and feel the same way we do. Since we cannot see inside their minds, their actions might only be based on physical needs. It might be that we will never know if our friends, family, or pets have real thoughts and feelings.

Faced with these uncertainties, he also wonders if we need a better way to handle them. He asks whether we naturally believe what others think. If there is doubt, he questions whether it can still be called real knowledge.

Another point he makes is that people from different societies and cultures have different beliefs about consciousness. This makes us less sure about other people’s thoughts. Some are unsure if worms, fish, or insects can think and feel. Many believe that things like rocks and plants do not have thoughts or emotions. Some people think our cells cannot feel emotions.

In short, the chapter talks about how we cannot be sure what others are thinking or feeling, and how people show their feelings in different ways. It explains how not knowing leads us to wonder about consciousness and whether we can ever truly understand other minds. He says we still need definite answers to these important questions.