ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on trenchant criticism that applies not only to Descartes but to legacy that he bequeathed concerning how people ask questions about the relation of mind to body. If one has taken a course in psychology or philosophy of mind, the idea that behaviorism might help us with a current problem may come as a surprise. The chapter considers Gilbert Ryle's charge that Descartes is not so much mistaken about the nature of the mind as he is confused about notions pertaining to mentality and intelligence. One of Ryle's goals in The Concept of Mind is to show that, prevalent understanding of the mind and its relation to the body is confused in principle, rather than mistaken on one or more details. The overall position he calls the Myth of the Ghost in the Machine. A person who commits a category mistake attempts to apply a concept to a thing of logical type that cannot coherently apply to.
