b.f. skinner and behaviorism ronald f. white, ph.d. professor of philosophy college of mount st....

B.F. SKINNER AND BEHAVIORISM

Ronald F. White, Ph.D.Professor of Philosophy

College of Mount St. Joseph

INTRODUCTION• Themes in this Course so Far

– The nature of the individual in relationship to the state– The nature of classes and/or “social groupings”– The nature of political leadership– The nature and direction of human history

• Mechanism and Historicism• Progress or regress

– Power and Knowledge– Rationalism v. Empiricism– Idealism v. Realism– The Nature of work as a human activity– Economic Theory and Politics

• Classical Economics• Marxism

NEW THEMES • Science and Human Nature

– Explain, Predict, Control• Scientific Realism

– Truth as Correspondence– Scientific Method

• Nature v. Human Nature– Nature v. Nurture– Evolution

• Biological Evolution (genes)• Cultural Evolution (ideas or memes)

– Freudianism– Relativity Theory– Quantum Theory

• Role of Science in Human Affairs– Rise of Logical Positivism

• Material Reduction• Mechanism

– Free Will v. Determinism

A SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR

• Rise of Behaviorism– Critique of traditional psychology– Psychology is the “Science of Behavior” NOT Mind– Explain, Predict, Control Human Behavior without relying on

non-empirical components like mind. – The “Black Box”– Pavlov’s dogs– Reflex-

• B.F. Skinner– Pigeons– Skinner Box

SKINNER’S POLITICAL VIEWS

• Human Flourishment• The Controlled Society– Walden II