The reading one has chosen to critically analyse is Gilbert Ryle’s Descartes ' Myth. Ryle is attempting here to undermine what he dubs ‘The Official Doctrine’, which is the idea that the generally accepted answer to the mind-body problem is that of Cartesian Dualism, as presented by Descartes in the 17th Century.
Ryle refers to the general acceptance as ‘The Dogma of The Ghost Machine’, as the Cartesian theory makes humans out to be just a ghost (mind) controlling a machine (body). Ryle’s main point of argument is not to simply debunk some factors or issues in the language of the theory, but to prove it entirely false, not in its details but in the principle itself. This Dualist idea presents the Mind and Body as separate things made of separate stuff. The Body is external and public whereas the Mind is internal and private. This view pushes that the Mind and Body are still connected, however, explaining that what the Mind wills the Body does. The Doctrine justifies this connection by explaining two separate …show more content…
Functionalism is the idea that all Mental States are Functional States, meaning that Mental States should be identified with what it does rather than what it is made of, which is where Ryle sees the Cartesian theory to fall short. Ryle see’s the Doctorien to represent the Mind as if it were a physical thing, but this is not possible and so Cartesian Dualism is using the wrong kind of language to explain the happenings of the mind. The Doctrine is representing the Mental as if they were belonging to only one logical type, but (as Functionalism argues) the Mind actually belongs to another all together separate from the physical. And this is his main argument, that the Official Doctrine is wrong because it uses the wrong sort of language to describe the Mind which leads to the impression of Human persons being Ghosts in a Machine.(Polger,
Ryle refers to the general acceptance as ‘The Dogma of The Ghost Machine’, as the Cartesian theory makes humans out to be just a ghost (mind) controlling a machine (body). Ryle’s main point of argument is not to simply debunk some factors or issues in the language of the theory, but to prove it entirely false, not in its details but in the principle itself. This Dualist idea presents the Mind and Body as separate things made of separate stuff. The Body is external and public whereas the Mind is internal and private. This view pushes that the Mind and Body are still connected, however, explaining that what the Mind wills the Body does. The Doctrine justifies this connection by explaining two separate …show more content…
Functionalism is the idea that all Mental States are Functional States, meaning that Mental States should be identified with what it does rather than what it is made of, which is where Ryle sees the Cartesian theory to fall short. Ryle see’s the Doctorien to represent the Mind as if it were a physical thing, but this is not possible and so Cartesian Dualism is using the wrong kind of language to explain the happenings of the mind. The Doctrine is representing the Mental as if they were belonging to only one logical type, but (as Functionalism argues) the Mind actually belongs to another all together separate from the physical. And this is his main argument, that the Official Doctrine is wrong because it uses the wrong sort of language to describe the Mind which leads to the impression of Human persons being Ghosts in a Machine.(Polger,