category mistake

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Popularized by philosopher Gilbert Ryle in The Concept of Mind (1949), where it is applied to the notion of a ghost in the machine.

Noun

category mistake (plural category mistakes)

  1. A semantic or ontological error by which a property (or category) is ascribed to a thing that could not possibly have that property.
    Synonym: category error
    • 1949, Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind, Hutchinson, page 16:
      It is one big mistake and a mistake of a special kind. It is, namely, a category-mistake. It represents the facts of mental life as if they belonged to one logical type or category (or range of types or categories), when they actually belong to another. The dogma is therefore a philosopher's myth.
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