Beyond Freedom and Dignity

In this controversial work, a landmark of 20th-century thought, Skinner makes his definitive statement about humans & society. Insisting world problems can be solved only by dealing more effectively with behavior, he claims traditional concepts of freedom & dignity must be sharply revised. They've played an important historical role in struggles against many kinds of tyranny, but they're now responsible for the futile defense of a presumed free & autonomous individual. They're perpetuating the use of punishment & blocking the development of more effective cultural practices. Basing his arguments on the results of the experimental analyses of behavior he pioneered, he rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of states of mind, feelings & other mental attributes in favor of explanations to be sought in the interaction between genetic endowment & personal history. He argues that instead of promoting freedom & dignity as personal attributes, we should direct attention to the physical & social environments in which people live. It's the environment rather than humankind itself that must be changed if the traditional goals of the struggle for freedom & dignity are to be reached. Beyond Freedom & Dignity urges us to reexamine ideals taken for granted & 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 humanity can attain its greatest possible achievements.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner, 1904-90, one of the most influential psychologists since Freud, earned a Harvard psychology Phd in '31. Following appointments at the Univ. of Minnesota & Indiana Univ., he returned to Harvard in '48, remaining there until retiring in '74 as Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology.