B. F. Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist and author. He conducted pioneering work on experimental psychology and advocated behaviorism, which seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcement. He also wrote a number of controversial works in which he proposed the widespread use of psychological behavior modification techniques (primarily operant conditioning) in order to improve society and increase human happiness.

Social engineering

Skinner is popularly known mainly for his controversial books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Walden Two describes a visit to an imaginary utopian commune in the 1940s United States, where the productivity and happiness of the citizens is far in advance of that in the outside world due to their practice of scientific social planning and the use of operant conditioning in the raising of children.

Related Topics:
Walden Two - Beyond Freedom and Dignity - Utopian - Commune - 1940s

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Walden Two, like Thoreau's Walden, champions a lifestyle that doesn't foster competition and social strife and doesn't support war. It favors and encourages a lifestyle of minimal consumption, rich social relationships, personal happiness, satisfying work and leisure.

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Beyond Freedom and Dignity advanced the thesis that obsolete social concepts, like free will and human dignity (by which Skinner meant belief in individual autonomy) stood in the way of greater human happiness and productivity. Skinner was just as opposed to inhumane treatment and bad government as many, and perhaps more than some, but he argued that the champions of freedom went so far as to deny causality in human action so they could champion the "free person." So the champions of freedom were, in a sense, the enemies of a scientific way of knowing. There is a rough parallel here to the book "Higher Supersitition" in the opposition to scientific knowledge, except Skinner here is being much more general.

Related Topics:
Beyond Freedom and Dignity - Free will - Higher Supersitition

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Dignity is the practice of giving individuals credit for their actions. To say "Skinner is brilliant" means that Skinner is an originating force. If Skinner is right, he is merely the locus of his environment. He is a not an originating force and he had no choice in saying the things he said or doing the things he did. Skinner's environment and genetics allowed and made him write his book. This is not to say that that means it is not true. The environment and genetics of the advocates of freedom and dignity make them fight the reality of their activity being grounded in determinism.

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