What Is It Like to Be a Bat? Quotes

“Reflection on what it is like to be a bat seems to lead us, therefore, to the conclusion that there are facts that do not consist
in the truth of propositions expressible in a human language. We can be compelled to recognize the existence of such facts without
being able to state or comprehend them.”
― Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

“The problem is not just that when I look at the "Mona Lisa", my visual experience has a certain quality, no trace of which is to be found by someone looking into my brain. For even if he did observe there a tiny image of the "Mona Lisa", he would have no reason to identify it with the experience.”
― Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

“... [T]o deny the reality or logical significance of what we can never describe or understand is the crudest form of cognitive dissonance.”
― Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

“Without consciousness the mind-body problem would be much less interesting. With consciousness it seems hopeless.”
― Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

“After all, there would have been transfinite numbers even if everyone had been wiped out by the Black Death before Cantor discovered them.”
― Thomas Nagel, What Is It Like to Be a Bat?