Word: skinnerism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sheer range of this book would render it unpalatable to most readers. Skinner deals with man and his culture from the beginning to the future, in a dazzling series of generalities designed for the general reader. This book is direct in line of descent from such grand visionary works at Rousseau's Second Discourse and Jacques Loeb's Mechanistic Conception of Life, Skinner, like Rousseau and Loeb, has attempted to transcend the role of the scientist and assume the mantle of the prophesy. And, more important, like Rousseau and Loeb, Skinner has been carried away by his cosmic dream...
...could understand and better the furor which this book has engendered if he had not read the book. Skinner, Pierce Professor of Psychology, has been attacked by fellow scholars, as any academic who publishes a controversial book always is. He has also made the cover of Time magazine, been editorialized about and against in half the papers in the country and even reviled by the Vice-President--who, one feels sure, has not read the book...
...society, but only says that we are capable of making them. It is in no way a breakthrough, either as psychology, sociology or political science. Why then, the furor? In Agnew's case, certainly, because the Vice-President needed an easy target. (Agnew went so far as to lump Skinner in the same category with "progressive educators"--a classification which both Skinner and progressive educators will find amusing.) In the case of Time, because the popular press is always in need of some new villain to destroy, some new hero to create, something to put on the cover. Unfortunately, Beyond...
Dostoevsky is to the point in discussing Skinner, partly because Skinner quotes him often, partly because much of Skinner is reminiscent of Dostoevsky. Skinner, in fact, is reminiscent of many writers, as one might expect of the author of Walden Two. Skinner's knowledge and use of literature is wide and impressive, and Skinner himself is an accomplished writer. Like most writers, he is endowed with a cosmic dream, a vision of a perfect universe, and, like many writers, he is sure that he has discovered how to create...
...Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Skinner...