Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Author: B. F. Skinner
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2002-03-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1603840818

In this profound and profoundly controversial work, a landmark of 20th-century thought originally published in 1971, B. F. Skinner makes his definitive statement about humankind and society. Insisting that the problems of the world today can be solved only by dealing much more effectively with human behavior, Skinner argues that our traditional concepts of freedom and dignity must be sharply revised. They have played an important historical role in our struggle against many kinds of tyranny, he acknowledges, but they are now responsible for the futile defense of a presumed free and autonomous individual; they are perpetuating our use of punishment and blocking the development of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the massive results of the experimental analysis of behavior he pioneered, Skinner rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind, feelings, and other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in the interaction between genetic endowment and personal history. He argues that instead of promoting freedom and dignity as personal attributes, we should direct our attention to the physical and social environments in which people live. It is the environment rather than humankind itself that must be changed if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom and dignity are to be reached. Beyond Freedom and Dignity urges us to reexamine the ideals we have taken for granted and to consider the possibility of a radically behaviorist approach to human problems--one that has appeared to some incompatible with those ideals, but which envisions the building of a world in which humankind can attain its greatest possible achievements.

Walden Two

Walden Two
Author: B. F. Skinner
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2005-07-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1603840362

A reprint of the 1976 Macmillan edition. This fictional outline of a modern utopia has been a center of controversy ever since its publication in 1948. Set in the United States, it pictures a society in which human problems are solved by a scientific technology of human conduct.

About Behaviorism

About Behaviorism
Author: B.F. Skinner
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2011-08-24
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0307797848

The basic book about the controversial philosophy known as behaviorism, written by its leading exponent.

God, Freedom and Human Dignity

God, Freedom and Human Dignity
Author: Ron Highfield
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2012-11-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830864504

Ron Highfield traces the genealogy of the modern self from Plato, Descartes and Locke to Charles Taylor's landmark Sources of the Self. What emerges is a stark portrait of the modern ideal of self-governance and the crisis it provokes for a Christian view of human identity, freedom and dignity found in God.

Verbal Behavior

Verbal Behavior
Author: Burrhus Frederic Skinner
Publisher: New York : Appleton-Century-Crofts
Total Pages: 478
Release: 1957
Genre: Language and languages
ISBN:

The Roots of Fundamentalism

The Roots of Fundamentalism
Author: Ernest Robert Sandeen
Publisher: Chicago : University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1970
Genre: Fundamentalism
ISBN: 9780226734675

The Skinner Primer

The Skinner Primer
Author: Finley Carperter
Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1985
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780029059005

Walden Two

Walden Two
Author: B. F. Skinner
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2005
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780872207783

This fictional outline of a modern utopia has been a center of controversy ever since its publication in 1948. Set in the United States, it pictures a society in which human problems are solved by a scientific technology of human conduct. It is now widely recognized that great changes must be made in the American way of life. Not only can we not face the rest of the world while consuming and polluting as we do, we cannot for long face ourselves while acknowledging the violence and chaos in which we live.The choice is clear: either we do nothing and allow a miserable and probably catastrophic future to overtake us, or we use our knowledge about human behavior to create a social environment in which we shall live productive and creative lives and do so without jeopardizing the chances that those who follow us will be able to do the same. -Back cover.

Free Will

Free Will
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2012-03-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1451683405

From the New York Times bestselling author of The End of Faith, a thought-provoking, "brilliant and witty" (Oliver Sacks) look at the notion of free will—and the implications that it is an illusion. A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion. In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.

Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Author: Burrhus Frederic Skinner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 228
Release: 1972
Genre: Conditioned response
ISBN:

Argues that concepts of freedom and dignity are destructive of values they claim to foster; that a technology of behavior would be more prductive of the good society.