Nagel says, "It is useless to base the defense of materialism on any analysis of mental phenomena that fails to deal explicitly with their ____________________. For there is no reason to suppose that a reduction which seems plausible when no attempt is made to account for consciousness can be extended to include consciousness."

Question

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Nagel is arguing that any defense of materialism (the belief that everything can be reduced to physical matter) must address the subjective character of mental phenomena, i.e. the fact that there is something it is like to experience them from a first-person perspective. Without this consideration, any reduction of mental phenomena to physical processes is incomplete and inadequate.

Nagel Says, "It Is Useless to Base the Defense of Materialism