The Abolition of Behaviorism // Abigale Bell

I am going to be absolutely honest and say that I struggled to understand much of this week's reading. Yet, there are a few ideas I noted while reading Skinner's "About Behaviorism."

First, according to Skinner, the study of behavior comes down to one simple idea which is the study of causes. "We tend to say, often rashly, that if one thing follows another, it was probably caused by it--following the ancient principal of post hoc, ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this)" (Skinner, 212). To me, this is plausible. 

Furthermore, Skinner says, "Feelings occur at just the right time to serve as causes of behavior, and they have been cited as such for centuries" (212). A connection I made while reading this section was to Lewis' "Abolition of Man." It seems to me that we would not have behaviorism as Skinner describes it except for the fact that we are "men without chests" as Lewis would say (Lewis, 1). We allow emotions to drive our actions.

As he continues the argument, Skinner breaks down the study of behavior into what the science has been viewed as in the past. He analyzes certain questions that have been attributed to understanding human behavior. However, in this exhaustive analysis of behaviorism, the issue comes down to one main question: what is human nature? When human nature can be understood, human behavior can be understood. "In a behavioristic view, man can now control his own destiny because he knows what must be done and how to do it" (221). Is this not the very "Abolition of Man" that Lewis spoke of? We believe that we can control human nature by defining it and shaping it. As we do so, we become a people who are slowly losing our humanity. 

Comments

  1. Bug OlsenMarch 21, 2022 at 10:17 PM

    I agree that this reading was very difficult to understand. I liked your point about mean without chests, and I think it will be interesting to learn about it in contrast to things such as "Abolition of Man" and other literary and Christian perspectives.

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  2. Lily CaswellMarch 22, 2022 at 9:45 AM

    I also struggled a little bit in this reading. I love how you compare Skinner’s essay to “Abolition of Man”. We can try to control human nature, but we ultimately fail.

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  3. Jessef LeslieMarch 24, 2022 at 7:45 AM

    We have been manipulating our environment for years, yet do not call that the loss of our humanity. I'm not sure if Skinner's "About behaviorism" can be labeled as such when we have done it since the dawn of time. It only makes sense to me that in smaller scales, parents sheltering their children and teaching them are doing the same thing.

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