The Concept of Mind is a 1949 book by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, in which the author argues that “mind” is “a philosophical illusion hailing chiefly from René Descartes and sustained by logical errors and ‘category mistakes’ which have become habitual.”
Q. What is the official doctrine?
Official doctrine [The doctrine states that] with the doubtful exceptions of the mentally-incompetent and infants-in-arms, every human being has both a body and a mind…. The body and the mind are ordinarily harnessed together, but after the death of the body the mind may continue to exist and function.
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Q. What specific problems does this official doctrine lead to?
There are two main difficulties concerning the official doctrine: (I) the mind- body problem and (II) the problem of other minds. The ontological view of the official doctrine leads to mind-body problem since the official doctrine cannot coherently elucidate how mind and body interact with each other.
Q. What Ryle said about self?
Arguing that the mind does not exist and therefore can’t be the seat of self, Ryle believed that self comes from behavior. We’re all just a bundle of behaviors caused by the physical workings of the body.
Q. What does Ryle think is the origin of the category mistake?
Ryle argued that it was a mistake to treat the mind as an object made of an immaterial substance because predications of substance are not meaningful for a collection of dispositions and capacities. He goes on to argue that the Cartesian dualism of mind and body rests on a category mistake.
Q. Which of these were written by Descartes?
Descartes presented his results in major works published during his lifetime: the Discourse on the Method (in French, 1637), with its essays, the Dioptrics, Meteorology, and Geometry; the Meditations on First Philosophy (i.e., on metaphysics), with its Objections and Replies (in Latin, 1641, 2nd edn.
