What Is Le Penseur Really Doing?

Abstract

Gilbert Ryle retired from the Waynflete Chair in 1968. In the year leading up to his retirement I was in my final year as an undergraduate and I attended the last undergraduate lectures that Ryle gave, under the title ‘What is Le Penseur Doing?’ I can recall with great vividness Ryle as a lecturer. He was dressed in a way which made me think of a well-heeled country squire. But the face above the clothes was craggy, in some ways like that of Auden, determined and intelligent. His lectures lasted just the right length of time — neither too short, nor too long, but he gave me the strong impression that he was not exactly worried that he had too much material to impart. His speech was unhurried, but frequently interrupted by a slight cough. The language and style of his lectures was the same as that of his writings. Although my recollections of the performance are, even now, vivid, I have no recollection of what Ryle was trying to tell us, of what his answer to his own question was. And I can remember being unsure at the time quite why Ryle found the whole business of thinking so puzzling. I suspect that this is because Ryle did not explain why it was puzzling for him, and equally he did not state any general thesis.