What Is It Like to Be a Bat?

Nagel utilizes the literary device of contrast to explore and emphasize his philosophical arguments. Contrast is a rhetorical device through which writers identify differences between two subjects, places, persons, things, or ideas. In his essay, Nagel contrasts the subjective experience of a human with that of a bat to emphasize the fundamental limitations of human knowledge and empathy. He states: “In so far as I can imagine this (which is not very far), it tells me only what it would be like for me to behave as a bat behaves. But that is not the question. I want to know what it is like for a bat to be a bat” (439). This brings to the fore the primary question of his essay—the subjective character of experience.

Diction refers to the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. Nagel’s diction is academic, precise, and somewhat dense, reflecting the philosophical nature of his subject matter. For instance, he writes: “The fact that an organism has conscious experience at all means, basically, that there is something it is like to be that organism” (436).