The Ghost in the Machine
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28
CORE DEFINITION
The Ghost in the Machine is a 1967 book about philosophical psychology by Arthur Koestler. The title is a phrase (see ghost in the machine) coined by the Behaviourist Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle to describe the Cartesian dualist account of the mind–body relationship. Koestler shares with Ryle the view that the mind of a person is not an independent non-material entity, temporarily inhabiting a
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The Ghost in the Machine is a 1967 book about philosophical psychology by Arthur Koestler. The title is a phrase (see ghost in the machine) coined by the Behaviourist Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle t
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"The Ghost in the Machine" is Gilbert Ryle's mockery of Cartesian mind-body dualism: comparing the mind to a "ghost in the machine" is a category mistake. It reminds us that the mind is not an additional entity independent of the body, but rather a certain organization of the body.
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- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_in_the_Machineverified
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