In this profound and proundly challenging book, the great behaviorlist B.F. Skinner,regarded by many as the most influential and controversial living psychologist, author also of the celebrated utopian novel Walden two, makes his definitive statement about man and society.
Insisting that the frightening problems we face in the world today can be solved only by much more effectively with human behavior, Skinner argues that our traditional concepts of freedom and dignity must be shaply revised.They have played an important historical role in man's struggle against many kinds of tyranny,he acknowledges,but they are now responsible for the futile defense of a free and worthy autonomous man: they are perpetuating our use of punishment and are blocking the developement of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the massive results ofthe experimental analysis of behavior in which he pioneered, he rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind,feelings,and other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in an individual's genetic endowment and personal history. He tells why,istead of promoting freedom and dignity as personal attributes,we should direct our attention to the physical and social enviornments in which people live. It is the environment that must be changed rather than man himself if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom and dignity are to be reached.
Insisting that the frightening problems we face in the world today can be solved only by much more effectively with human behavior, Skinner argues that our traditional concepts of freedom and dignity must be shaply revised.They have played an important historical role in man's struggle against many kinds of tyranny,he acknowledges,but they are now responsible for the futile defense of a free and worthy autonomous man: they are perpetuating our use of punishment and are blocking the developement of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the massive results ofthe experimental analysis of behavior in which he pioneered, he rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind,feelings,and other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in an individual's genetic endowment and personal history. He tells why,istead of promoting freedom and dignity as personal attributes,we should direct our attention to the physical and social enviornments in which people live. It is the environment that must be changed rather than man himself if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom and dignity are to be reached.
