Dilemmas
The Tarner Lectures 1953
Cambridge Philosophy Classics Series

Common sense tells me I can control my life to some extent; should I then, faced with a logical argument for fatalism, reject common sense? There seems to be no place in a physical theory of the universe for the sensory experiences of colours, taste and smells, yet I know I have these experiences. In this book, Gilbert Ryle explores the conflicts that arise in everyday life and shows that the either/or which such dilemmas seem to suggest is a false dilemma: one side of the dilemma does not deny what we know to be true on the other side. This classic book has been revived in a new series livery for twenty-first-century readers, featuring a specially commissioned preface written by Barry Stroud.

Preface to this edition Barry Stroud; 1. Dilemmas; 2. 'It was to be'; 3. Achilles and the tortoise; 4. Pleasure; 5. The world of science and the everyday world; 6. Technical and untechnical concepts; 7. Perception; 8. Formal and informal logic.

Gilbert Ryle (1900–76) published widely on a variety of philosophical topics, including philosophy of mind and philosophy of language, but was perhaps best known for his work on philosophical behaviourism and his critique of Cartesian dualism.