- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Concluding thoughts

Posted by: Barry Stoller on February 11, 19100 at 19:43:20:

In Reply to: Thank God (or is that Human Nature?) posted by Hank on February 11, 19100 at 12:16:19:

From this post:

: And anyway, we should remember that Behaviorism is dominant in American academia, and as such it Behaviorists are forever writing savage reviews of Chomsky, calling him names like 'fascist' too.

Two falsehoods. Behaviorism has been pretty well rubbed out from American academia since the Reagan era (with a few exceptions, like the University of Arizonia). Second: if you can cite ANY behaviorist who calls Chomsky a Nazi in print, please do---or withdraw your claim.

Articles that challenge Chomsky's language claims against Skinner include Kenneth MacCorquodale's 'On Chomsky's Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior,' Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, January 1970, pp. 83-99; Marc Richelle's 'Formal Analysis and Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior: Notes on the Debate between Chomsky and Skinner,' Behaviorism, Fall 1976, pp. 209-221; and, most recently, Howard Rachlin's third edition of Introduction to Modern Behaviorism, W.H. Freeman & Co. 1991, pp. 218-220.

Moving on...

Stoller: Now then: ' are humans also born with a moral device'?

: In fact, I'm not positive I agree with Chomsky, I wanted to just begin discussing it with this very good case for one.

Absolute morality, like the tired old case for a constant 'human nature' is reactionary.




Follow Ups:

The Debating Room Post a Followup