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Ernest Nagel was born in Nove Mesto, Bohemia (now a part of Czechoslovakia). He arrived in the United States in 1911 and received American citizenship in 1919.
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Nagel received his bachelor of science degree in social studies from the City College of New York.
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Nagel taught physics in various New York City public schools.
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Nagel received his Master's Degree in Philosophy from the University of Columbia
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Nagel received his doctoral degree in philosophy, also from the University of Columbia.
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Nagel taught at the University of Columbia, except in 1966-1967, when he taught at Rockefeller University.
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Nagel co-authored this book with Morris R. Cohen, who emphasized the role of reason in science. This book richly illustrates the function of logical principles in scientific method in the natural and social sciences and in law and history. The book remained one of the most influential in the field well into the 1950s. https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy-biographies/ernest-nagel
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Nagel -
After a year of study in Europe, Nagel published a historic report, "Impressions and Appraisals of Analytic Philosophy in Europe," in the Journal of Philosophy (1936). This essay introduced Americans to the philosophical work of the European philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Rudolf Carnap. Nagel sought to adapt the teachings of the logical positivists to the more comprehensive framework of American pragmatic naturalism. https://biography.yourdictionary.com/ernest-nagel
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The Structure of Science clearly and methodically examined the problems in the logic of the various methods of scientific explanation. The book also examined the nature of scientific theories and attempted to show that all scientific theories, including those in the social sciences, can be explained by the same empirical methods usually associated with the physical sciences. https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy-biographies/ernest-nagel
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In his book, Nagel first discussed four types of scientific explanation: deductive, where the explanation follows logically from the premises of the argument; probabilistic, where the explanation is probable given the premises; teleological(functional), where the explanation defines the function or goal of what is explained or studied; and genetic, meaning historical, where the explanation relies on earlier knowledge to explain the studied object. https://www.encyclopedia.com
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In 1978 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, which was not a common occurrence among philosophers. His election was a tribute to Ernest Nagel's wide-ranging interests and extensive substantive knowledge of many different branches of science. Suppes, Patrick. “Biographical Memoir: Ernest Nagel: November 16, 1901—September 20, 1985.” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 109, no. 8/9, The Journal of Philosophy, Inc, Aug. 2012, pp. 470–78.
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Ernest Nagel died of Pneumonia in New York City, and is buried in South Wardsboro, Vermont.
