Gilbert Ryle on Descartes' Myth
Simon Cushing
4,489 views
Ryle argues (in his seminal 1949 book, The Concept of Mind) that the traditional view of the relationship of mind and body rests on category mistake(s).
8 Comments
@fall2nd269 11 months ago
This is so helpful thank you
@micahgmiranda 2 years ago (edited)
Have you never seen Ghost in the Shell? You really owe it to yourself to see one of the greatest films of all time. Note: I'm not talking about the Scarlett Johnson film but the animated film from 1995.
@rogercarl3969 1 year ago
A bit of a personal story to illustrate a point:
My mother in her declining years was at the University Hospital and I decided to wheel her through the campus. It was summer and there were not many people there. Afterwards I felt disappointed that it was not the experience of a University.
Much earlier in my life, my Mother and Father went for a walk with some friends through the same University Campus. I was a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon in April. They walked past a library and saw is pack with students studying for their finals. They then called me to ask what those students were doing in there, instead of enjoying the beautiful day.
The buildings are not the University. It is the students, professors, researchers, support staff, and others who do that work of education, and everything necessary to support the process of education. The buildings are a skeleton, or a vessel, or a container where that can happen. In the same way a coffee mug is useless, unless it has something inside of it worth drinking.
My mother in her declining years was at the University Hospital and I decided to wheel her through the campus. It was summer and there were not many people there. Afterwards I felt disappointed that it was not the experience of a University.
Much earlier in my life, my Mother and Father went for a walk with some friends through the same University Campus. I was a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon in April. They walked past a library and saw is pack with students studying for their finals. They then called me to ask what those students were doing in there, instead of enjoying the beautiful day.
The buildings are not the University. It is the students, professors, researchers, support staff, and others who do that work of education, and everything necessary to support the process of education. The buildings are a skeleton, or a vessel, or a container where that can happen. In the same way a coffee mug is useless, unless it has something inside of it worth drinking.
@johnward5102 2 years ago
Really good post about someone I hadn't come across talking a lot of sense about someone I had come across, Descartes. Thank you. You can not only do a deep dive, but you can do it in English, in the common tounge. I'm amazed that it has only attracted 33 views since posted, as it deals with what is surely the most central issue in philosophy, aka our understanding of reality. Ryle is pointing out where philosophy became disconnected from reality in a most fundamental way. I would love to be able to email you through your department. Would that be possible?
Gilbert Ryle on Descartes' Myth
Simon Cushing
4,489 views
Ryle argues (in his seminal 1949 book, The Concept of Mind) that the traditional view of the relationship of mind and body rests on category mistake(s).