Ryle rejects the idea that the mind is an inner cause of behavior. He maintains and critizes the views layed forth in what he calls the “Official Doctrine.” It is an attempt to change the view on the works of Rene Descartes. Rene Descartes believed that the mind and body worked together in a dualist system. Ryle challenges that concept with what he referes to Descartes work as the ghost in the machine. He believed that the mind is separate from the body and that Descartes looked at words in referecnce to a thing and not a catergory. Ryle argues, "I hope to prove that it is entirely false, and false not in detail but in principle. It is not merely an assemblage of particular mistakes. It is one big mistake and a mistake of a special kind.
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He believed that the body along with physical things take up space and they are not conscious. Secondly, that the mind was conscious and that it does not take up space. This is where he lays the ground work for the dualist system. That he cannot deny the existence of his mind, but he can doubt the existence of the physical world. He explains this as thinking, feeling, desires and visual imagery are all ways that we are conscious but that they do not take up space. The things that do take up space buildings, machines a mupltidue of human creations or as he refers to as extensions. No matter how elaborate or complex these extensions do not have the ability to be conscious. So how then are the two spiritual and physical world connected? In his theory he explains that the two live in a coxhisting form. First that the physical world affects how we precieve things. For example, if I stubbed my toe the pain would travel from the foot to the brain. Secondly, that the mind effects the body and how it interacts with the things around …show more content…
This theory of the separability of mind and body is described by Ryle as "the dogma of the ghost in the machine". He explains that the workings of the mind as it governs the body are neither an independent nor a distinct mechanism, that there is no entity called "Mind" inside a mechanical apparatus called "the body", but that the workings of the mind may be better conceptualized as the actions of the
He believed that the body along with physical things take up space and they are not conscious. Secondly, that the mind was conscious and that it does not take up space. This is where he lays the ground work for the dualist system. That he cannot deny the existence of his mind, but he can doubt the existence of the physical world. He explains this as thinking, feeling, desires and visual imagery are all ways that we are conscious but that they do not take up space. The things that do take up space buildings, machines a mupltidue of human creations or as he refers to as extensions. No matter how elaborate or complex these extensions do not have the ability to be conscious. So how then are the two spiritual and physical world connected? In his theory he explains that the two live in a coxhisting form. First that the physical world affects how we precieve things. For example, if I stubbed my toe the pain would travel from the foot to the brain. Secondly, that the mind effects the body and how it interacts with the things around …show more content…
This theory of the separability of mind and body is described by Ryle as "the dogma of the ghost in the machine". He explains that the workings of the mind as it governs the body are neither an independent nor a distinct mechanism, that there is no entity called "Mind" inside a mechanical apparatus called "the body", but that the workings of the mind may be better conceptualized as the actions of the