What Exactly Is a Category Error?

Defining a category error can be challenging. Generally, it refers to a misunderstanding where attributes are incorrectly assigned to something that belongs to a different category. A famous example comes from Noam Chomsky's whimsical phrase, “colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

In his work, The Concept of Mind, Ryle utilizes the notion of category errors to critique dualism—the belief that the universe consists of two fundamentally distinct substances: matter and mind. Ryle argues that those who view the mind as merely another kind of substance are committing a category error.

To illustrate this, imagine your child is considering a university and you decide to visit. After exploring various facilities—the dormitories, libraries, and dining halls—your child asks, “When do we get to see the university?” You’d likely point out that all these structures and their arrangements make up the university itself; it’s not just another building among the rest.

Another example might involve entertaining an international business client who wishes to observe American football. After you explain the roles of various players, the client inquires about “team spirit.” You would recognize that team spirit isn’t a tangible entity; it’s a collective quality that emerges from how the players interact, not something that can be singled out.

Ryle argues that the mind is not simply an additional component of the body. Instead, it emerges from the interplay of various physical systems. Understanding how these systems function together to produce thoughts and actions means you’ve grasped the essence of the mind itself.

Time Travel: A Fundamental Misunderstanding

The term “time travel” can be likened to saying “blue number.” If this seems unclear, it may be due to our reliance on spatial metaphors to articulate time. We often refer to moving a meeting “up” to Wednesday or “pushing back” an appointment to Friday. Such language leads us to conceptualize time as though it were a spatial dimension.

The frequent use of spatial terminology gives rise to the misconception that time can be treated as just another dimension, akin to the x, y, and z axes. We ponder movement in a “temporal direction,” attempting to visualize time as a spatial entity.

This misunderstanding is so pervasive that we often overlook its absurdity. It’s easy to travel from one city to another and return, yet no one has discovered a way to travel forward or backward in time.

This illustrates the power of metaphor over reality. Once a metaphor becomes ingrained in our thinking, we may prioritize it over empirical evidence, clinging to preconceived notions.

A New Perspective on Time

To break free from the constraints imposed by this category error, consider redefining our understanding of “time.” While you can continue using the term, remember that when discussing “points in time,” you are actually referring to various arrangements of matter and energy.

The so-called “arrow of time” is a concept rooted in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that the universe naturally evolves from less probable to more probable states over time. Thus, the idea of “traveling back in time” isn't about hopping into a fantastical machine; it entails restoring the universe to its prior state.

Imagine wanting to “return” to yesterday. This would involve rearranging the universe as it existed at that time. Given the speed of light and the number of seconds in a day, you would need to gather data on the positions and movements of countless particles over an enormous distance. The machinery required to accomplish this task is far beyond our current capabilities.

Does this mean you can’t enjoy movies like Terminator?

Absolutely not! You can still appreciate films like Terminator and Terminator 2. They are undeniably entertaining.