Despite what may seem like skepticism about the objective claims of science, Nagel does not dispute that science describes the world that exists independently of us. His contention, rather, is that a given way of understanding a subject matter should not be regarded as better simply for being more objective. He argues that scientific understanding's attempt at an objective viewpoint--a "view from nowhere"--necessarily leaves out something essential when applied to the mind, which is inherently from a subjective point of view. As such, objective science is fundamentally unable to help people fully understand themselves. In "What Is it Like to Be a Bat?" and elsewhere, he writes that science cannot describe what it is like "to be" a thinker who conceives of the world from a particular subjective perspective.