Reason is universal because no attempted challenge to its results can avoid appealing to reason in the end-by claiming, for example, that what was presented as an argument is really a rationalization. This can undermine our confidence in the original method or practice only by giving us reasons to believe something else, so that finally we have to think about the arguments to make up our minds.
Thomas NagelEveryone is entitled to commit murder in the imagination once in a while, not to mention lesser infractions.
Thomas NagelA theory of motivation is defective if it renders intelligible behaviour which is not intelligible.
Thomas NagelIf you want the truth rather than merely something to say, you will have a good deal less to say.
Thomas NagelHumans are addicted to the hope for a final reckoning, but intellectual humility requires that we resist the temptation to assume that tools of the kind we now have are in principle sufficient to understand the universe as a whole.
Thomas NagelI want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, I hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.
Thomas Nagel