Sample Essay on:
Nagel's "What Is It Like To Be A Bat?"

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Essay / Research Paper Abstract

7 pages in length. The writer discusses Nagel's perception of animal consciousness, noting how humanity hesitates to apply any other criteria to animal sentience than what is based upon man's own understanding. The notion of physicalism is also discussed. No bibliography.

Page Count:

7 pages (~225 words per page)

File: LM1_TLCNagelBat.rtf

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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:

the external world by way of sonar, inasmuch as their brains are designed to correlate their shriek echoes to distance, shape and motion. This unusual approach to vision is a type of perception humans do not possess and cannot relate to on a comparable basis. Nagel claims the essence of experience reflects the "something" it is like to be a bat; because man will never partake of the unique experience of being a bat, he will never be able to truly understand what it is like to be a bat. Nagel easily made the connection between bat behavior and consciousness as though they were automatically interrelated, causing his critics to wonder that if it is that easy to make such a determination, would it not be logical to take this concept many steps further? What the researcher ultimately proved is what those within the animal world have long supported: while animals do possess a level of consciousness, it is far and away separate from that of what humans possess. Nagel thinks a bats conscious experience cannot be explained either by our imagination, physiological investigation of the bats nervous system or through our careful use of concepts because consciousness is not something that is specific to human beings; in fact, man is likely the only species that truly does not understand the depth and intensity that animals possess in their special consciousness. When human beings attempt to determine animal consciousness by way of their own definition, it is easy to see that the two are not meant to intertwine; rather, animals have their own consciousness that is neither recognized nor accepted by man. Through human reasoning, man is able to discern one concept from another, one belief from another. What is there to say ...

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