ABSTRACT
In 1949, Gilbert Ryle, a philosopher at Oxford University, published an influential book called The Concept of Mind. Logical behaviorism tries to describe what the people mean when they talk of an individual’s thoughts, beliefs, intentions, dreams, emotions, and sensations. Logical behaviorism advances both negative and positive claims. Ryle thought that the common-sense view of the mind is deeply confused. According to Ryle, common sense is committed to the idea that mental states are inner causes of behavior. A traditional explanation of how the people are able to have knowledge of the mental states of others is via an argument by analogy. Logical behaviorism says that the meanings of mentalistic terms can be specified purely in terms of behavior. In the 1930s and 1940s, scientists purified curare and studied its effects on the central nervous system.
