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Biography
Born in Prague, Nagel immigrated to the U.S at the age of 10.
He earned his Bachelors of Science degree from City College of New York & his doctorate from Columbia University. He was editor of the Journal of Philosophy (1939-1956) and the Journal of Symbolic Logic at Columbia(1940-1946).He worked at Rockefeller Univ. for a year (1966-1967).In 1967 he achieved the most distinguished academic rank at Columbia, Univ.Professor, and in 1970 he became Professor Emeritus.He passed of pneumonia in 1985. -
Developed "Contextualistic Analysis"
Contextualism is seen as a grouping of the view in which philosophy emphasizes the context where action occurs. The primary concept of contextualist epistemology is that attributions of knowledge are sensitive to the context in which they exist. That truthful ideals of knowing depend on the context in which the knowledge is being utilized. Nagel states contextualistic analysis as "the meanings of theoretical constructions in terms of their manifest functions in identifiable contexts." -
Logic without Ontology
In 1944 Ernest Nagel published his paper called Logic without Ontology. In it he expressed how the science of mathematics could be expressed in solely linguistic terms. Ontology is defined as the philosophical study of existing. Traditionally it has been categorized under the philosophical field of metaphysics . -
Advocate of Logical Realism
From 1930s -1960s Nagel was the most distinguished philosopher of science. He had originally been influenced by his professor, Morris R. Cohen. Nagel began advocating for logical realism yet later he began creating his own approach stating: "abstract and practical conditions of logic as well as of the philosophy of science to be applied to experimental science." Logical realism held that the foundations of logic represent the broad and infinite characteristics of the natural world. -
Naturalism & Nagel
Nagel developed a theory to describe naturalism differently. He advanced the theory that social and behavioral sciences can be adapted into the expression of the physical sciences. Nagel refused efforts towards "reduction" which were not solely established on scientific analysis.
At the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association 1954 , he said naturalism was: "a generalized account of the cosmic scheme and of man's place in it, as well as a logic of inquiry." -
"The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation" (1961)
This was Nagel's great masterpiece. In his book he talks about the origin of scientific curiosity in regards to natural or physical as well as social science. It has been considered a classic as critiques have contributed comments praising the discussion of holism and reductionism that Nagel develops in his work, as well as his criticism of Berlin.
Despite such praise, critics aren't as inclined towards his discussions on social science, supporting more his views on natural science.
