Books like Mortal Questions

Fourteen essays in this book tie together the question of how philosophy applies in everyday life. Nagel’s writing drags a bit in places, and not all the essays are of equal interest. The personal nature of the inquiry is the book's main draw and the best reason for reading it. The most helpful approach to this kind of book is to list its topics and give my ratings, as follows: TOPIC: Death – A rather short discussion asking why death is thought of as such a bad event. **** Absurdity – Excellent topic with good insights ***** Sexual Perversion -- A logically poor survey of sexual attitudes, but a fascinating look at how philosophy doubly abstracts the subject from its instinctive and psychological nature. *** War – Dated; of little interest to me. * Public Life – Less here than meets the eye ** Affirmative Action – Dated look at a trendy but exhausted subject. * Equality – Excellent comparison of individual rights, utilitarianism and egalitarianism ***** Fragmentation of Value – Must all our values derive from one source? ***** Ethics and Biology – Short and uninteresting * Unity of Consciousness – Outdated by modern brain research * On Being a Bat – Excellent discussion of subjective experience ***** Panpsychism – Channeling Spinoza **** Subjective and Objective – Very interesting. ****The discussions are a little more technical than others I’ve seen, and the author surveys many concepts. I recommend the book for people having a general interest in philosophy and at least a basic familiarity with its terms.