Meaning of ghost in the machine | Babel Free

Definitions

The mental activity that occurs in parallel with physical action, but with no known way for the two to interact, according to the theories of mind-body dualism.

Examples

“Now the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine does just this. It maintains that there exist both bodies and minds; that there occur physical processes and mental processes; that there are mechanical causes of corporeal movements and mental causes of corporeal movements.”

“The doctrines of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machine—or, as philosophers call them, empiricism, romanticism, and dualism—are logically independent, but in practice they are often found together.”

CEFR level