The "ghost in the machine" is British philosopher Gilbert Ryle's description of René Descartes' mind-body dualism. The phrase was introduced in Ryle's book The Concept of Mind (1949) to highlight the perceived absurdity of dualist systems like Descartes' where mental activity carries on in parallel to physical action, but where their means of interaction are unknown or, at best, speculative.
Read more about Ghost In The Machine: Gilbert Ryle, Arthur Koestler, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words ghost and/or machine:
“And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
‘You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!’”
—Andrew Barton Peterson (1864–1941)
“A multitude of little superfluous precautions engender here a population of deputies and sub-officials, each of whom acquits himself with an air of importance and a rigorous precision, which seemed to say, though everything is done with much silence, “Make way, I am one of the members of the grand machine of state.””
—Marquis De Custine (1790–1857)