Concept

Category mistake

Overview

A category mistake (or category error, categorical mistake, or mistake of category) is a semantic or ontological error in which things belonging to a particular category are presented as if they belong to a different category, or, alternatively, a property is ascribed to a thing that could not possibly have that property. An example is a person learning that the game of cricket involves team spirit, and after being given a demonstration of each player's role, asking which player performs the "team spirit".

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Philosophers who discussed Category mistake

• Gilbert Ryle
• John Searle
• Wilhelm Wundt

Related ideas

• Gilbert Ryle
• The Concept of Mind
• Mind–body dualism
• Massimo Pigliucci
• Metaphysics
• Ontology
• René Descartes
• Cricket
• David Chalmers
• Semantics
• Thomas Hobbes
• University of Oxford
• Hard problem of consciousness
• The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

Place in the tradition

Part of Analytic philosophy.

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