UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
GILBERT RYLE
LIFE, PHILOSOPHY AND WORKS
20TH Century British
Philosopher
Associated with the
Ordinary Language
Philosophy Movement
Also known as Linguistic
Philosophy or Natural
Language Philosophy –
a philosophical school
that tackles traditional
philosophical
problems is rooted in
misunderstandings of
philosophers develop by
forgetting what words
actually mean in a
language, and taking
them in abstraction and
out of context
GILBERT RYLE
(1900 – 1976)
Well-known for his
critique of Descartes’
Mind-Body Dualism
which claim is that..
Any theory that the mind
and body are distinct
kinds of substances or
natures
The mind and body not
only differ in meaning
but also different kinds
of entities
A dualist would oppose
any theory that identifies
mind with the brain
Philosophical
Behaviorism
The belief that all
mental phenomena
can be explained by
reference to publicly
GILBERT RYLE
observable behavior
(1900 – 1976)
Gilbert Ryle : LIFE
Born on August 19, 1900 in Went to Brighton College
Brighton, England 1919 – Queen’s College,
Oxford – studied Classics
One of ten children in a then soon drawn to
wealthy family Philosophy
Christ Church Oxford –
His father was a doctor and graduated first class honors in
a generalist who also has 1924 and was appointed to a
interests in astronomy and lectureship in Philosophy
philosophy. He has a library He became a tutor a year
later and remained at
which he passed down to his Christ Church until World
children, thus the young War II
Ryle grew up in an Remained at Oxford for
his entire academic career
environment of learning until retirement in 1968
Gilbert Ryle : LIFE
As a linguist, he was 1945 to 1946 – president of
recruited to intelligence Aristotelian Society
work with the Welsh Editor of “MIND” - a
Guards during World War philosophical journal, for
II, and rose to the rank of 25 years from 1947 – 1971
Major by the end of the Published “The Concept
war. of Mind” in 1949
1945 – he returned to
Did not marry and lived
Oxford and was elected after his retirement in 1968
Waynflete Professor of with his twin sister, Mary
Metaphysical in Islip, Oxfordshire
Philosophy and Fellow
of Magdalen College, Died on October 6, 1976 in
Oxford North Yorkshire
Gilbert Ryle : WORKS
Mainly known for his book “THE CONCEPT OF
MIND” (1949)
Also wrote a collection of shorter pieces
Dilemmas (1954)
Plato’s Progress (1966)
On Thinking (1979)
Gilbert Ryle : THE CONCEPT OF MIND
Attacked the Body-Mind Dualism
Which claims that the Mind is an independent entity,
inhabiting and governing the body
He rejected the idea that nature is a complex
machine, and that human nature is a smaller
machine with a “ghost” in it to account for
intelligence, spontaneity, and other human qualities
Gilbert Ryle : THE CONCEPT OF MIND
He believed that classical theories (i.e. Cartesian,
Idealist or Materialist) made mistakes in attempting
to analyze the relation between “MIND” and “BODY”
The workings of the mind are not distinct from the
actions of the body, but are one and the same.
Thus, he characterized the mind as a set of
capacities and abilities belonging to the
body.
Gilbert Ryle : THE CONCEPT OF MIND
PHILOSOPHICAL BEHAVIOURISM (also
known as Analytical of Logical
Behaviourism)
He claimed that mental vocabulary is merely a
different way of describing action, and that a
person’s motives are defined by that person’s
dispositions to act in certain situations.
He concluded that adequate descriptions of human
behavior need never refer to anything but the
operations of human bodies.
Gilbert Ryle : THE CONCEPT OF MIND
CARTOGRAPHY ANALOGY
COMPETENT SPEAKERS : PHILOSOPHER
SIMPLE VILLAGERS : MAPMAKER
Implication threads
- Philosophers should be able to explain and make
apparent the meaning of sentences by “mapping” the
words and phrases of a particular statement such that
each word or phrase of a statement contributes to the
statement in such a way that, if the words or phrases
were changed, the statement would have a different
implication. Philosophy, then, should search for
the meaning of these implication threads in the
statements in which they are used.
Sources:
https://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_ryle.html
https://www.philosophybasics.com/movements_ordinary_language.ht
ml
https://www.britannica.com/topic/mind-body-dualism
