ghost in the machine

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English

Etymology

Coined by British philosopher Gilbert Ryle in 1949.

Noun

ghost in the machine (plural ghosts in the machine or ghosts in machines)

  1. (philosophy) The mental activity that occurs in parallel with physical action, but with no known way for the two to interact, according to the theories of mind-body dualism.
    • 1949, Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind, Hutchinson, page 22:
      Now the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine does just this. It maintains that there exist both bodies and minds; that there occur physical processes and mental processes; that there are mechanical causes of corporeal movements and mental causes of corporeal movements.
    • 2002, Steven Pinker, chapter 1, in The Blank Slate, Penguin, →ISBN, page 10:
      The doctrines of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machine—or, as philosophers call them, empiricism, romanticism, and dualism—are logically independent, but in practice they are often found together.

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