1001Philosophers

Gilbert Ryle Quotes

Gilbert Ryle was a British analytic philosopher and one of the architects of post-war Oxford ordinary-language philosophy. As Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy and editor of Mind, he shaped a generation of British thought. The quotes below are attributed to Gilbert Ryle, organized by topic.

Gilbert Ryle on Knowledge

  • Attributed to Gilbert Ryle:

    “Knowing how is not reducible to knowing that.”

  • Attributed to Gilbert Ryle:

    “We can know how to play chess without knowing the propositional rules.”

Gilbert Ryle on Mind

  • Attributed to Gilbert Ryle:

    “The dogma of the ghost in the machine.”

  • Attributed to Gilbert Ryle:

    “It is not a contingent fact about thinking that it is bound up with language.”

  • Attributed to Gilbert Ryle:

    “The official doctrine, which hails chiefly from Descartes, is something like this: with the doubtful exceptions of idiots and infants in arms, every human being has both a body and a mind.”

Read all Gilbert Ryle quotes on Mind