A Semiotic Reconstruction of Ryle's Critique of Cartesianism

185 Pages·29.334 MB·English

by  B. Narahari Rao

B. Narahari Rao
A Semiotic Reconstruction
of Ryle's Critique of Cartesianism
W
DE
G
Quellen und Studien
zur Philosophie
Herausgegeben von
Jürgen Mittelstraß, Günther Patzig,
Wolfgang Wieland
Band 38
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1994
A Semiotic Reconstruction
of Kyle's Critique of Cartesianism
by
B. Narahari Rao
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1994
Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Universität des Saarlandes
© Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier,
das die US-ANSI-Norm über Haltbarkeit erfüllt.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rao, B. Narahari, 1946-
A semiotic reconstruction of Kyle's critique of Cartesianism / by
B. Narahari Rao.
p. cm. — (Quellen und Studien zur Philosophie ; Bd. 38)
Revision of the author's thesis, Universität des Saarlandes, 1991.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 3-11-014156-6 (alk. paper)
1. Ryle, Gilbert, 1900 — 1976 — Contributions in criticism of
Cartesianism. 2. Philosophy of mind. 3. Descartes, Rene, 1596 — 1650.
4. Philosophy, Modern. 5. Semiotics. I. Title. II. Series.
B23.Q45 Bd. 38
[B1649.R964]
100s-dc20
[192] 94-31008
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — CIP-Hinheitsaufnahme
Rao, Bairady Narahari:
A semiotic reconstruction of Ryle's critique of Cartesianism / by
B. Narahari Rao. — Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter, 1994
(Quellen und Studien zur Philosophie ; Bd. 38)
Zugl.: Saarbrücken, Univ., Diss., 1991
ISBN 3-11-014156-6
NE: GT
© Copyright 1994 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin
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Printed in Germany
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Dedication
To my late father Krishnayya as a token of gratitude for his understanding for things he
could not understand, and for his forgiving me my youthful impieties against him, as
well as all that was dear to him. Let this work be understood as an effort to vindicate
his way of life - one that is imbued with variable rituals but not tainted by any faith or
belief;
and
to my mother Vagdevi whose practice of asserting and making her judgements prevail
by quotation, narration and invention of stories nurtured my appetite for things beyond
my reach.

Preface
This book is a slightly modified version of the dissertation submitted to the
Philosophische Fakultät of the Universität des Saarlandes in 1991. For an
appreciation of the wider significance of the thesis of the book the following
brief note - something of a biographical kind - may perhaps be of help.
I came to Germany with a wish to study theories concerning culture but
with only a vague idea about the field. Having overcome the initial difficulties
of all sorts - both academic and non-academic -1 settled to working on Ryle's
distinction between 'knowing-how' and 'knowing-that' on the suggestion of
Prof. Dr. Kuno Lorenz. Though it might be difficult for the reader to discern,
underlying what I have made out of Ryle are some of my own concerns
bugging me from my political-activist days back in India in the seventies. One
of them is the connection between what is pejoratively called 'tradition' and
one's way of life. It is a common cliche about Indian society - both among its
supposed admirers and detractors - that it is 'tradition bound'. I am of the
opinion that this characterization is false except in a trivial sense in which any
society is traditional. But, be that as it may, such wide-spread use of a cliche
can stimulate a question. To anyone having some acquaintance with an Indian
milieu, it should become evident that if an ordinary person living in India is
'traditional', it cannot be in the sense that he or she holds beliefs that the
European travellers' tales and the scholarly disquisitions over the last three
centuries have concocted under the title 'Hindu faith'. Explanations of ways of
life in terms of beliefs - whether exotic or familiar - is one of the targets of my
attack.
Probably such targets are not explicit in this work. Nor perhaps can one
readily identify the connection to theory concerning culture. Such explicit
discussions are for the future. But I have to thank Kuno Lorenz for the very
fruitful suggestion he made of a topic to peg on my concerns and philosophical
broodings.
In addition to academic indebtedness - which is considerable - this book
owes to Prof. Lorenz as well as to Dr. Dietfried Gerhardus, for their help of a
nature that can hardly be acknowledged adequately in terms of the usual
scholarly apparatus of foot-notes. I have also received such a help from many
others, especially from Maly Gerhardus, Dr. Silke Kledzik, Prof. Annely
Rothkegel, Prof. Gerhard Heinzmann and Angela Sträub.
viii Preface
I am also indebted to Prof. Srinivasa Rao of Bangalore University, India,
Dr. Kapil Raj of Universite de Lille III, France, and Cheryl Rahman,
Saarbrücken, for their help in improving the language and style of the text. It
goes without saying that responsibility for the still remaining defects is mine.
The Freunde der Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken and the
Universität des Saarlandes have given financial support to make this
publication possible. To them as well as to the editors of the "Quellen und
Studien zur Philosophie" my thanks are due.
Saarbrücken, May 1994 B.N.R.
Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations used xiii
Part I Concepts as objects
0 Introduction: the Propositional Model of Knowledge 1
0.1 Science as a Context-invariant System of Propositions 2
0.2 The Nature of Historical Reference of the Term 'Cartesianism' .. 4
0.3 Plan of the Book 5
1 Developing a Heuristic Device: Object Approach' 8
1.0 'Making Things Understandable' 8
1.1 Acquaintance with Objects as a Model for Knowledge
Explication 8
2 Enquiry into the "Rational Animal" 15
2.1 Ryle's Account of His Concerns 15
2.1.1 Inter-theory Questions and the Skill to Acquaint with
the World Reflectively 16
2.1.2 Theoretical Thinking and the Analogy of Games 19
2.2 'Philosophy' and the Notion of 'Intellect' 24
2.2.1 'Theory of Mind' 26
2.2.2 CM's Relation to the Philosophical Tradition 27
2.3 What is 'Cartesianism'? 29
2.3.1 Confusing Logical with Phenomenological Questions and
Action-Queries with Causal-Queries 30
2.3.2 'Psychologism': Thought' as Concatenation of Elements .. 33
2.3.3 'Platonism': 'Meanings' as a Realm of Entities 37
2.3.4 'Intellectualist Doctrine', 'Inner Perception' and the Doctrine
of 'Accusatives' 39
2.4 Philosophy of Mind, Category Mistake and'Meta-Philosophy' .. 41
2.4.1 'Meta-Philosophy' and Theory of Meaning 44
2.5 Strategic and Paradigmatic Nature of the Theme of
'Concept of Mind' 46