After Thomas Nagel publicised Mind and Cosmos in 2012, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Nagel criticises the Neo-Darwinian conception of nature and its apparent materialist naturalist...Show moreAfter Thomas Nagel publicised Mind and Cosmos in 2012, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Nagel criticises the Neo-Darwinian conception of nature and its apparent materialist naturalist orthodoxy in this book. I respond to James DiFrisco’s criticism of Nagel’s Mind and Cosmos in this thesis. I defend Mind and Cosmos against the two core criticisms put forward by DiFrisco. In the first chapter, I will explain Nagel’s criticism of physicalism in the philosophy of mind, the physical sciences and NeoDarwinist evolutionary theory in particular. In chapter two, I will elaborate on DiFrisco’s two core criticisms. These are Nagel's alleged confusion of Neo-Darwinist evolutionary theory as a theory of everything and an accusation that Nagel paints a false opponent in biology. I will refute DiFrisco’s two core criticisms in the third and final chapter.Show less
