The Ghost in the Machine

404 Pages·1982·52.09 MB·English

by  Arthur Koestler

,
Arth
OESTLER
/
:HO&
T
in the
ACHIN
J
v.
f
\
\
i
The Ghost in the Machine
Arthur Koestler alternated all his life between the man ofaction
and the man ofletters. Born in Budapest in 1905, he studied at
Vienna University before becoming a journalist. As a foreign
correspondent he travelled widely, visiting the Middle East,
Paris and Moscow. In 1937, while representing the News
Chronicle in Spain, he was captured by Franco's troops and
imprisoned under sentence ofdeath. He was eventually released
on the intervention ofthe British Government and returned to
London. During the war he served with the French Foreign
Legion and the British Army and in 1945 became Special
Correspondent for The Times in Palestine. In the 1940s and early
1950s he was perhaps the most widely read political novelist of
our time. DarknessatNoon, considered to behis masterpiece, was
published in 1940, followed by Arrival and Departure (1943),
Thieves in theNight (1946) TheAgeofLonging (1951) and TheCall
Girls (1972). From 1956, he became immersed in questions of
science and mysticism and had a huge following among young
people. Explaining his varied interests, Koestler wrote: 'Out of
my quarrels with the human condition I made my novels; the
other books are attempts to analyse that same condition in
scientific terms. In my more optimistic moments it seems to me
that the two add up to a whole. At any rate, without both media
I would feel only halfalive.' The Sleepwalkers (1959), The Act of
Creation (1964) and The Ghost in the Machine (1967) make up his
classic trilogy on the mind ofman. His other books include The
Yogi and the Commissar (1945), The Case of the Midwife Toad
(1971) and Bricks to Babel, a collection ofnon-fiction essays.
Koestler received the Sonning Prize from the University of
Copenhagen in 1968 and was awarded a number of honorary
doctorates. He was a Fellow of both the Royal Society of
Literature and ofthe Royal Astronomical Society. He was made
a CBE in 1972 and a Companion ofLiterature in 1974, and on
three occasions was nominated for the Nobel Prize. Arthur
Koestler died in 1983. The Times obituary called him 'a con-
sistently lucid and humane writer His reputation as one of
. . .
themostversatileandproteanwritersofourcenturyisthoroughly
deserved.'

Arthur Koestler
I
The
GHOST
;
I in the
MACHINE
ARKANA
'
ARKANA
PublishedbythePenguinGroup
27WrightsLane,LondonW85TZ,England
VikingPenguinInc.,40West23rdStreet,NewYork,NewYork 10010,USA
PenguinBooksAustraliaLtd,Ringwood,Victoria,Australia
PenguinBooksCanadaLtd,2801JohnStreet,Markham,Ontario,CanadaL3R 1B4
PenguinBooks(NZ)Ltd, 182-190WairauRoad,Auckland 10,NewZealand
PenguinBooksLtd,RegisteredOffices: Harmondsworth,Middlesex,England
FirstpublishedbyHutchinson&Co 1967
PublishedbyArkanaBooks 1989
13579108642
©
Copyright ArthurKoestler, 1967
Allrightsreserved
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
Cox&WymanLtd,Reading
ExceptintheUnitedStatesofAmerica,
thisbookissoldsubjecttothecondition
thatitshallnot,bywayoftradeorotherwise,
belent,re-sold,hiredout,orotherwisecirculated
withoutthepublisher'spriorconsentinanyformof
bindingorcoverotherthanthatinwhichitis
publishedandwithoutasimilarcondition
includingthisconditionbeingimposed
onthesubsequentpurchaser
To the Fellows and Staff
1964-5
at the Centrefor Advanced Study
in the Behavioural Sciences

CONTENTS
Preface XI
PART ONE
ORDER
THE POVERTY OF PSYCHOLOGY
I 3
The Four Pillars ofUnwisdom - The Rise of
Behaviourism - The De-Humanisation ofMan -
How to Manipulate Tautologies - The Philosophy of
Ratomorphism
II THE CHAIN OF WORDS AND THE TREE OF
LANGUAGE
19
The Chain- The Tree- 'What Did You Say?' - The
Postman and the Dog - 'What Do You Mean By
That7* - Rules, Strategies and Feedbacks
THE HOLON
III 45
The Parable ofthe Two Watchmakers - EnterJanus
Social Holons - The Basic Polarity
IV INDIVIDUALS AND DIVIDUALS 59
A Note about Diagrams - Inorganic Systems - The
Organism and its Spares - The Integrative Powers of
Life
CONTENTS
V TRIGGERS AND FILTERS 71
Triggers - How to Builda Nest - Filters
VI A MEMORY FOR FORGETTING 84
Abstractive Memory - A Speculative View - Two
Types ofMemory - Picture-Strip Memory - Images
and Schemata - Learning by Rote
VII THE HELMSMAN 95
Sensory-Motor Routines - Feedbacks and Homeostasis -
Loops within Loops - A Holarchy ofHolons
VUI HABIT AND IMPROVISATION 104
The Origins ofOriginality - The Mechanisation of
Habits - One Step at a Time - The Challenge of
Environment
PART TWO
BECOMING
IX THE STRATEGY OF EMBRYOS 115
Docility andDetermination - The Genetic Keyboard
x evolution: theme and variations 127
Internal Selection - The Case ofthe Eyeless Fly - The
Puzzle ofHomology - Archetypes in Biology - The
Law ofBalance - The Doppelgangers- The Thirty-Six
Plots
xi evolution ctd: progress by
INITIATIVE 151
Acting Before Reacting - Once More Darwin and
Lamarck