Gilbert Ryle and the Ethical Impetus for Know-How
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15173/jhap.v8i1.3973Abstract
This paper aims to shed light on an underexplored aspect of Gilbert Ryle’s interest in the notion of “knowing-how”. It is argued that in addition to his motive of discounting a certain theory of mind, his interest in the notion also stemmed (and perhaps stemmed more deeply) from two ethical interests: one concerning his own life as a philosopher and whether the philosopher has any meaningful task, and one concerning the ancient issue of whether virtue is a kind of knowledge. It is argued that Ryle saw know-how as crucial in both respects and, also, that he continued to be interested in these ethical issues throughout his career.
References
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Annas, Julia, 1995. “Virtue as a Skill.” International Journal of Philosophical Studies 3: 227–43.
———, 2011. Intelligent Virtue. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aristotle, 2014. Nicomachean Ethics, edited and translated by Roger Crisp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Conant, James C. and Silver Bronzo, 2016. “Resolute Readings of the Tractatus.” In A Companion to Wittgenstein, edited by Hans-Johann Glock and John Hyman, pp. 175–94. London: Wiley–Blackwell.
Dougherty, Matt, forthcoming. “The Importance of Roles in the Skill Analogy.” Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy.
Haugeland, John, 1998. “Truth and Rule-Following.” In Having Thought: Essays in the Metaphysics of Mind. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Hermann, Julia, 2013. “Learning to be Moral.” In What Makes Us Moral? On the capacities and conditions for being moral, edited by Bert Musschenga and Anton van Harskamp, pp. 207–23. Dordrecht: Springer.
Hobhouse, Leonard, 1915. The World in Conflict. London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd.
James, William, 1909. A Pluralistic Universe. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Kahn, Charles H., 1968. “Review of Plato’s Progress by Gilbert Ryle.” Journal of Philosophy 65: 364–75.
Kremer, Michael, 2017. “Ryle’s ‘Intellectualist Legend’ in Historical Context.” Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 5: 16–39.
Landini, Gregory. “Russell’s Separation of the Logical and Semantic Paradoxes.” Revue Internationale de Philosophie 229: 257–94.
Lerner, Max, 1943. Ideas are Weapons: The History and Use of Ideas. New York: Books, Inc.
McGrath, Sarah, 2015. “Forgetting the Difference between Right and Wrong.” In Intuition, Theory, and Anti-Theory in Ethics, edited by Sophie Grace Chappell, pp. 104–26. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Murdoch, Iris, 1970. The Sovereignty of Good. London: Routledge.
Perry, Ralph Barton, 1918. The Present Conflict of Ideals: A Study of the Philosophical Background of the World War. New York: Longmans, Green and Co.
Potter, Michael, 2002. Reason’s Nearest Kin: Philosophies of Arithmetic from Kant to Carnap. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roberts, Robert C., 1984. “Will Power and the Virtues.” Philosophical Review 93: 227–47.
Russell, Daniel C., 2015. “From Personality to Character to Virtue.” In Current Controversies in Virtue Theory, edited by Mark Alfano, pp. 92–106. London: Routledge.
Ryle, Gilbert, 1928. “Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 197–214.
———, 1932. “Phenomenology.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 167–78.
———, 1937. “Taking Sides in Philosophy.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 153–69.
———, 1938. “Categories.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 170–84.
———, 1939a. “Plato’s ‘Parmenides’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 1–44.
———, 1939b. “Review of F. M. Cornford Plato and Parmenides.” In Ryle (1971a), pp. 45–53.
———, 1940. “Conscience and Moral Convictions.” Analysis 7: 31–39.
———, 1945a. “Knowing How and Knowing That.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 46: 1–16.
———, 1945b. “Philosophical Arguments.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 194–211.
———, 1946. “Review of Marvin Farber: ‘The Foundations of Phenomenology’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 215–24.
———, 1949. The Concept of Mind. London: Hutchinson and Co.
Ryle, Gilbert, 1951. “Ludwig Wittgenstein.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 249–57.
———, 1958. “On Forgetting the Difference Between Right and Wrong.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 381–90.
———, 1960. “Letters and Syllables in Plato.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 54–71.
———, 1962. “Phenomenology Versus ‘The Concept of Mind’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 179–96.
———, 1965a. “The ‘Timaeus Locrus’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 72–88.
———, 1965b. “The Academy and Dialectic.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 81–115.
———, 1965c. “Dialectic in the Academy.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 116–25.
———, 1966a. Plato’s Progress. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 1966b. “Jane Austen and the Moralists.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 266–91.
———, 1967. “Plato.” In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Volume 6, edited by Paul Edwards, p. 320B. New York: Macmillan.
———, 1970. “Autobiographical.” In Wood and Pitcher (1970), pp. 1–15.
———, 1971a. Collected Papers 1: Critical Essays. London: Hutchinson and Co.
———, 1971b. Collected Papers 2: Collected Essays 1929-1969. London: Hutchinson and Co.
Ryle, Gilbert, 1972. “Can Virtue be Taught?” In Education and the Development of Reason, edited by R. F. Dearden, P. H. Hearst and R. S. Peters, pp. 434–47. London: Routledge.
Small, Will, ms. “The Intelligence of Virtue and Skill.” Unpublished manuscript, April 2018, http://www.cwsmall.com/downloads/wsmall_IVS_v3.pdf, accessed 3 May 2019.
Stichter, Matt, 2016. “Practical Skills and Practical Wisdom in Virtue.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 94: 435–48.
———, 2018. The Skillfulness of Virtue: Improving Our Moral and Epistemic Lives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tanney, Julia, 2013. “Ryle’s Conceptual Cartography.” In The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy, edited by Erich H. Reck, pp. 94–110. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1921. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London: Routledge.
———, 1953. Philosophical Investigations. London: Basil Blackwell.
Wood, Oscar O. and George Pitcher, eds., 1970. Ryle: A Collection of Critical Essays. London: Macmillan.
Annas, Julia, 1995. “Virtue as a Skill.” International Journal of Philosophical Studies 3: 227–43.
———, 2011. Intelligent Virtue. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aristotle, 2014. Nicomachean Ethics, edited and translated by Roger Crisp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Conant, James C. and Silver Bronzo, 2016. “Resolute Readings of the Tractatus.” In A Companion to Wittgenstein, edited by Hans-Johann Glock and John Hyman, pp. 175–94. London: Wiley–Blackwell.
Dougherty, Matt, forthcoming. “The Importance of Roles in the Skill Analogy.” Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy.
Haugeland, John, 1998. “Truth and Rule-Following.” In Having Thought: Essays in the Metaphysics of Mind. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Hermann, Julia, 2013. “Learning to be Moral.” In What Makes Us Moral? On the capacities and conditions for being moral, edited by Bert Musschenga and Anton van Harskamp, pp. 207–23. Dordrecht: Springer.
Hobhouse, Leonard, 1915. The World in Conflict. London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd.
James, William, 1909. A Pluralistic Universe. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Kahn, Charles H., 1968. “Review of Plato’s Progress by Gilbert Ryle.” Journal of Philosophy 65: 364–75.
Kremer, Michael, 2017. “Ryle’s ‘Intellectualist Legend’ in Historical Context.” Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 5: 16–39.
Landini, Gregory. “Russell’s Separation of the Logical and Semantic Paradoxes.” Revue Internationale de Philosophie 229: 257–94.
Lerner, Max, 1943. Ideas are Weapons: The History and Use of Ideas. New York: Books, Inc.
McGrath, Sarah, 2015. “Forgetting the Difference between Right and Wrong.” In Intuition, Theory, and Anti-Theory in Ethics, edited by Sophie Grace Chappell, pp. 104–26. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Murdoch, Iris, 1970. The Sovereignty of Good. London: Routledge.
Perry, Ralph Barton, 1918. The Present Conflict of Ideals: A Study of the Philosophical Background of the World War. New York: Longmans, Green and Co.
Potter, Michael, 2002. Reason’s Nearest Kin: Philosophies of Arithmetic from Kant to Carnap. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roberts, Robert C., 1984. “Will Power and the Virtues.” Philosophical Review 93: 227–47.
Russell, Daniel C., 2015. “From Personality to Character to Virtue.” In Current Controversies in Virtue Theory, edited by Mark Alfano, pp. 92–106. London: Routledge.
Ryle, Gilbert, 1928. “Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 197–214.
———, 1932. “Phenomenology.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 167–78.
———, 1937. “Taking Sides in Philosophy.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 153–69.
———, 1938. “Categories.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 170–84.
———, 1939a. “Plato’s ‘Parmenides’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 1–44.
———, 1939b. “Review of F. M. Cornford Plato and Parmenides.” In Ryle (1971a), pp. 45–53.
———, 1940. “Conscience and Moral Convictions.” Analysis 7: 31–39.
———, 1945a. “Knowing How and Knowing That.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 46: 1–16.
———, 1945b. “Philosophical Arguments.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 194–211.
———, 1946. “Review of Marvin Farber: ‘The Foundations of Phenomenology’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 215–24.
———, 1949. The Concept of Mind. London: Hutchinson and Co.
Ryle, Gilbert, 1951. “Ludwig Wittgenstein.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 249–57.
———, 1958. “On Forgetting the Difference Between Right and Wrong.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971b), pp. 381–90.
———, 1960. “Letters and Syllables in Plato.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 54–71.
———, 1962. “Phenomenology Versus ‘The Concept of Mind’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 179–96.
———, 1965a. “The ‘Timaeus Locrus’.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 72–88.
———, 1965b. “The Academy and Dialectic.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 81–115.
———, 1965c. “Dialectic in the Academy.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 116–25.
———, 1966a. Plato’s Progress. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———, 1966b. “Jane Austen and the Moralists.” Reprinted in Ryle (1971a), pp. 266–91.
———, 1967. “Plato.” In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Volume 6, edited by Paul Edwards, p. 320B. New York: Macmillan.
———, 1970. “Autobiographical.” In Wood and Pitcher (1970), pp. 1–15.
———, 1971a. Collected Papers 1: Critical Essays. London: Hutchinson and Co.
———, 1971b. Collected Papers 2: Collected Essays 1929-1969. London: Hutchinson and Co.
Ryle, Gilbert, 1972. “Can Virtue be Taught?” In Education and the Development of Reason, edited by R. F. Dearden, P. H. Hearst and R. S. Peters, pp. 434–47. London: Routledge.
Small, Will, ms. “The Intelligence of Virtue and Skill.” Unpublished manuscript, April 2018, http://www.cwsmall.com/downloads/wsmall_IVS_v3.pdf, accessed 3 May 2019.
Stichter, Matt, 2016. “Practical Skills and Practical Wisdom in Virtue.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 94: 435–48.
———, 2018. The Skillfulness of Virtue: Improving Our Moral and Epistemic Lives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tanney, Julia, 2013. “Ryle’s Conceptual Cartography.” In The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy, edited by Erich H. Reck, pp. 94–110. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1921. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London: Routledge.
———, 1953. Philosophical Investigations. London: Basil Blackwell.
Wood, Oscar O. and George Pitcher, eds., 1970. Ryle: A Collection of Critical Essays. London: Macmillan.
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