“Such in outline is the official theory. I shall often speak of it, with deliberate abusiveness, as "the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine." 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. It is, namely, a category mistake. It represents the facts of mental life as if they belonged to one logical type or category (or range of types or categories), when they actually belong to another. The dogma is therefore a philosopher’s myth.”

—  Gilbert Ryle , book The Concept of Mind

Source: The Concept of Mind (1949), Ch. I: Descartes' Myth, (2) The Absurdity of the Official Doctrine

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Gilbert Ryle 8
British philosopher 1900–1976

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