What Is The Difference Between Descartes And Ryle's Dualism

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This is a comparative article regarding the two philosophers Descartes and Ryle. These two philosophers have very different view points and ideas about the mind and body; and the relation between the two.

Of the two philosophers, I will write about Descartes first. Descartes is a dualist. He believes that the mind and the body are two separate things that interact with each other. He explains that the body is a mechanical thing that’s in the physical world; this mechanism is then controlled by the mind which is not in the physical world. He goes on to say that the mind is who a person really is and the body is only a vessel of which we use to interact with the material world. If this vessel is impaired in any way, the mind remains the same …show more content…

In many of Ryle’s writings, he focuses his attention on disproving dualism. He begins by explaining the foundations of dualism. At his time, this foundation was the most largely accepted philosophy and thus he refers to it as the “Official Doctrine.” After explaining the official doctrine, Ryle says that dualism makes a “category mistake.” A category mistake is very simply, a mistake in the categorization of things. For example, if one was going to show a young man a university, you would take him to see the classrooms, the library, the offices, and the dorms. If the young man, after seeing all of this said, “Well, I have seen the classrooms, the library, the offices and the dorms, but where is the university?” Very clearly, the young man is mistaken, for he has put “the university” in the same category as its parts. In fact, the classrooms, the library, the offices and the dorms are what make up the university as a whole. Similarly, Ryle says that dualism makes the mistake of referring to the mind and the body as two separate parts when in fact, they are both “one.” He says that they both, in togetherness, make up a person. He goes on to say that because of this, one can understand what’s going on in another persons mind, as well as his own by observing bodily behavior. Whereas, the dualist believes that no one can understand what is going on in another persons mind, that it is completely sealed and private to the person. Ryle makes a compelling argument. If in fact, the mind and the body are one, then it seems only logical that through behavior of ones body, a person can also see the behavior of ones

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