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The Early Years
Nagel was born in Nove Mesto nad Vahom (Slovakia), he moved to the United States at 10 years old and received his citizenship in 1919. He later earned his Bachelor's of Science degree from the city College of New York and went on to obtain his PhD from Columbia University in 1931. -
Career Works
Nagel published " An introduction to Logic and the scientific method" with his professor Morris Cohen. In 1958 he assisted in publishing "Godels Proof" with James R. Newman, explicating Godel's incompleteness theorems to those not well trained in mathematical logic. He edited for the Journal of Philosophy from 1939-1956, and the journal of symbolic logic from 1940-1946. -
The Professor
With the exception of 1966-1967 Nagel spent his career educating students at Columbia University where he was the first John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, and later a university professor from 1967 until his retirement in 1970. -
Philosophy of Science
In 1961 Nagel published "The Structure of Science" which at the time laid the foundation for the field of analytic philosophy of science. Much of his work had major dealings with the philosophy of mathematical fields such as geometry, probability and quantum mechanics.
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The Paranormal
In 1976 Nagel became one of the first sponsors and fellows of " The committee for Skeptical Inquiry", supporting the skeptical approach to claims of the paranormal.