The Central Questions 
Thomas Nagel
When I finished this book I was left wondering why H.L.A. Hart hadn’t destroyed his diaries before he died. Perhaps modesty made him think that no one would want to write about him – he was not, in spite of his great distinction, world-famous like his friend Isaiah Berlin. But he certainly could have predicted that his widow Jenifer, whose indiscretion was well established, would do nothing to protect his privacy or her own.
Subscribers to the print edition can log in to view the entire article. For information about subscribing to the London Review of Books click here. This article is also available for purchase online: buy this article.
Thomas Nagel is University Professor at New York University. Concealment and Exposure and Other Essays is his most recent book.
Other articles by this contributor:
Why so cross? · natural selection
One-to-One · What We Owe to Each Other by T.M. Scanlon
The View from Here and Now · A Tribute to Bernard Williams
print layout
tell a friend