Thomas Nagel on Absurd in Mortal Questions

Mike Fraser

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Description

Thomas Nagel wrote his controversial book, Mortal Questions in the 1980s. Things have changed but not his views. This is a challenging excerpt from my narration (in 2022) of the chapter entitled The Absurd.

Vocal Characteristics

Language

English

Voice Age

Senior (55+)

Accents

British (England - South East - Oxford, Sussex) British (General) British (Received Pronunciation - RP, BBC)

Transcript

Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
consider some examples. It is often remarked that nothing we do now will matter in a million years. But if that is true, then by the same token, nothing that will be the case in a million years matters now in particular. It does not matter now that in a million years nothing we do now will matter. Moreover, even if what we did now were going to matter in a million years, how could that keep our present concerns from being absurd if they are mattering now is not enough to accomplish that. How would it help if they mattered a million years from now? Whether what we do now will matter in a million years could make the crucial difference only if it's mattering in a million years depended on its mattering period. But then, to deny that whatever happens now will matter in a million years is to beg the question against its mattering period. For in that sense, one cannot know that it will not matter in a million years whether, for example, someone now is happy or miserable without knowing that it does not matter, period

Solution