Ryle on Monism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ryle on Monism - Essay Example The body has physical existence and consists of matter. Evidences adduced by Freud suggest that some of the thoughts of a person differ from the thoughts which he really acknowledges. However, the common understanding is that a person is aware of his own thoughts. Regarding others, a person can only make inferences from the observed behaviour of the other person. But Ryle argues that this common sense understanding based on Descartes’ theory is unsound and conflict with whole body of knowledge that we know about mind. According to Ryle, the source of such double life theory is because of category mistakes. It is like somebody asking where the university is after seeing, various departments, libraries and research facilities. The university is in fact just the way everything is organised. The same is the mistake when a child after witnessing the march past of batteries, squadrons, etc .asks when the division is going to appear. He must be explained that battalions, batteries an d squadrons constitute a division. Descartes regards human body as a complex organised unit and mind as just another complex unit. Like body, minds are also things. Mental processes are causes and effects. The mind governs the bodily engine although nothing is known of how it governs the bodily engine. Ryle points out that such explanation given by Decartes rests on a batch of category mistakes.