University of Virginia Library

Prime Example

In another great chapter titled
"What is Man?" he concludes that
man is his environment. This is a
prime example of the way Skinner's
mind works. He knows how a man's
behavior can be shaped and
molded, he therefore feels justified
in assuming he has groped man,
inside and out. Two thousand years
of religious and philosophical
writings to the contrary don't stop
wonder boy.

Let us assume that Skinner is
right....that there is no such thing as
autonomous man, that he is
nothing more than the sum of his
genes and his surroundings. Still the
illusion that he is free might be an
integral part of man's will to live.
To take away all conflict and give
man a perfect culture to live in will
not guarantee his happiness, as
Skinner's own life demonstrates. If
Skinner really believed in what he
writes he would be sending his
BFD's from the Walden Two-based
community of Twin Oaks outside
of Charlottesville instead of his
Harvard Post in Cambridge. Yet
Skinner has stayed in today's
society to rage against it.

If you must read the book dig
up the condensed version of
"Psychology Today." Skinner
writes like a plumber and
considering the complexity of what
he has to say, 225 pages is about
200 pages too many.