Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900 – 6 October 1976) was a British philosopher. He was a representative of the generation of British
ordinary language philosophers who shared
Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical problems, and is principally known for his critique of
Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "the
ghost in the machine." Some of his ideas in the philosophy of mind have been referred to as "behaviourist." Ryle's best known book is
The Concept of Mind (1949), in which he writes that the "general trend of this book will undoubtedly, and harmlessly, be stigmatised as 'behaviourist'." Ryle, having engaged in detailed study of the key works of
Bernard Bolzano,
Franz Brentano,
Alexius Meinong,
Edmund Husserl, and
Martin Heidegger, himself suggested instead that the book "could be described as a sustained essay in
phenomenology, if you are at home with that label."