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Gilbert Ryle
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=== Thick description === {{main|Thick description}} In 1968 Ryle first introduced the notion of ''[[thick description]]'' in "The Thinking of Thoughts: What is 'Le Penseur' Doing?"<ref name=":1">Ryle, Gilbert. [1968] 1996. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080410232658/http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/CSACSIA/Vol11/Papers/ryle_1.html The Thinking of Thoughts: What is 'Le Penseur' Doing?]" ''Studies in Anthropology'' 11:11. {{ISSN|1363-1098}}. Archived from the [http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/CSACSIA/Vol11/Papers/ryle_1.html original] on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.</ref><ref>Ryle, Gilbert. [1968] 1971. "The Thinking of Thoughts: What is 'Le Penseur' Doing?" pp. 480–496 in ''Collected Papers'' 2. London: Hutchinson.</ref> and "Thinking and Reflecting".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ryle |first=Gilbert |date=1968 |title=Thinking and Reflecting |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0080443600011511/type/journal_article |journal=Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures |language=en |volume=1 |pages=210–226 |doi=10.1017/S0080443600011511 |issn=0080-4436|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Kirchin |first=Simon |title=Thick Concepts and Thick Descriptions |date=2013-04-25 |work=Thick Concepts |pages=60–77 |editor-last=Kirchin |editor-first=Simon |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5816/chapter/149029835 |access-date=2024-10-13 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672349.003.0004 |isbn=978-0-19-967234-9 |quote=The first coinage in print of ‘thick concept’ was due to Bernard Williams, [...] However, Gilbert Ryle was the first to use the phrase ‘thick description’ to describe ideas in this general ballpark. A thick description is a more specific sort of description that one needs in order to categorize an action, personality trait, or other such thing. Ryle used this phrase in two papers from the late 1960s, although the idea runs through much of his work.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to Ryle, there are two types of descriptions:<ref name=":1" /> # thin description: surface-level observations of behaviour, e.g. "His right hand rose to his forehead, palm out, when he was in the vicinity of and facing a certain other human." # thick description: adds context to such behaviour. Explaining this context necessitates an understanding of the motivations people have for their behaviours, as well as how observers in the community understand such behaviour: "He saluted the General."
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