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Full Idea
The old error treating the term 'Force' as denoting an occult force-exerting agency has been given up in the physical sciences.
Gist of Idea
No physical scientist now believes in an occult force-exerting agency
Source
Gilbert Ryle (The Concept of Mind [1949], V (1))
Book Ref
Ryle,Gilbert: 'The Concept of Mind' [Penguin 1949], p.113
A Reaction
Since 1949 they seem to have made a revival, once they are divested of their religious connotations. The word 'agency' is the misleading bit. Even Leibniz's monads weren't actual agents - he always said that was 'an analogy'.
| 2388 | Behaviour depends on desires as well as beliefs [Chalmers on Ryle] |
| 3354 | You can't explain mind as dispositions, if they aren't real [Benardete,JA on Ryle] |
| 2387 | How can behaviour be the cause of behaviour? [Chalmers on Ryle] |
| 18005 | Philosophy aims to become more disciplined about categories [Ryle] |
| 1354 | We cannot introspect states of anger or panic [Ryle] |
| 1353 | Reporting on myself has the same problems as reporting on you [Ryle] |
| 2620 | Dualism is a category mistake [Ryle] |
| 2622 | Can one movement have a mental and physical cause? [Ryle] |
| 14297 | A dispositional property is not a state, but a liability to be in some state, given a condition [Ryle] |
| 14300 | No physical scientist now believes in an occult force-exerting agency [Ryle] |
| 2624 | I cannot prepare myself for the next thought I am going to think [Ryle] |