Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Author(s): B. F. SKINNER
Source: The American Scholar, Vol. 25, No. 1 (WINTER, 1955-1956), pp. 47-65
Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41208055 .
Accessed: 28/07/2013 08:39
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
American Scholar.
http://www.jstor.org
47
disinterested
but an interestwhich is the interestof
generosity,
and may
We
have
not
everyone.
yetseen Plato's philosopher-king,
not wantto, but the gap betweenreal and Utopiangovernment
is
closing.
Ill
But we are not yet in the clear,fora new and unexpectedobstaclehas arisen.With a worldof theirown makingalmostwithin
reach,men of good will have been seized withdistastefortheir
achievement.They have uneasilyrejectedopportunities
to apply
thetechniquesand findings
ofsciencein theserviceofmen,and as
the importof effective
culturaldesignhas come to be understood,
manyof themhave voicedan outrightrefusalto have anypartin
it. Sciencehas been challengedbeforewhenit has encroachedupon
institutionsalreadyengaged in the controlof human behavior;
but whatare we to makeof benevolentmen,withno specialinterturnagainstthevery
estsof theirown to defend,who nevertheless
meansofreachinglong-dreamed-of
goals?
What is beingrejected,of course,is the scientific
conceptionof
man and his place in nature.So long as the findings
and methods
of scienceare applied to humanaffairs
onlyin a sortof remedial
we
continue
hold
to
patchwork, may
any view of human nature
we like. But as theuse of scienceincreases,we are forcedto accept
the theoreticalstructurewith which sciencerepresentsits facts.
The difficulty
is thatthisstructure
is clearlyat oddswiththetraditional democraticconceptionof man. Everydiscoveryof an event
which has a part in shapinga man's behaviorseemsto leave so
much the less to be creditedto the man himself;and as such exthe contribuplanationsbecome more and more comprehensive,
tion whichmay be claimed by the individualhimselfappearsto
approachzero. Man's vauntedcreativepowers,his originalaccomplishmentsin art,scienceand morals,his capacityto chooseand
our rightto holdhimresponsiblefortheconsequencesofhischoice
- none of theseis conspicuousin thisnew self-portrait.
Man, we
once believed,was freeto expresshimselfin art,musicand literature,to inquire into nature,to seek salvationin his own way.He
5*
- whethergovsive uniformity.
We are told thateffective
control
ernmental,religious,educational,economic or social- will produce a race of men who differfromeach other only through
That would probablybe
relativelyrefractory
geneticdifferences.
bad design,but we mustadmitthatwe are not now pursuinganothercoursefromchoice.In a modernschool,forexample,thereis
usuallya syllabuswhichspecifieswhateverystudentis to learnby
the end of each year.This would be flagrant
ifanyregimentation
one expectedeverystudentto comply.But some will be poor in
particularsubjects,otherswill notstudy,otherswill notremember
whattheyhave been taught,and diversity
is assured.Suppose,howthat
we
such
effective
educationaltechniques
ever,
somedaypossess
thateverystudentwill in factbe put in possessionof all the behaviorspecifiedin a syllabus.At the end of the year,all students
will correctlyanswerall questionson the finalexaminationand
"must all have prizes." Should we reject such a systemon the
groundsthatin makingall studentsexcellentit has made themall
alike?Advocatesof the theoryof a special facultymightcontend
thatan importantadvantageof thepresentsystemis thatthegood
studentlearnsin spite of a systemwhichis so defectivethatit is
currentlyproducingbad studentsas well. But if reallyeffective
techniquesare available,we cannotavoid the problemof design
the statusquo. At whatpoint should educasimplyby preferring
tionbe deliberatelyinefficient?
Such predictionsof the havoc to be wreakedby the application
of scienceto humanaffairsare usuallymade withsurprisingconfidence.They notonlyshowa faithin theorderliness
ofhumanbehavior;theypresupposean establishedbodyof knowledgewiththe
help of whichit can be positivelyassertedthatthechangeswhich
- albeit
scientistsproposeto make will have quite specificresults
not theresultstheyforesee.But thepredictionsmade bythecritics
of sciencemustbe held to be equally fallibleand subjectalso to
empiricaltest.We may be sure thatmanystepsin the scientific
designof culturalpatternswill produceunforeseenconsequences.
But thereis onlyone wayto findout. And the testmustbe made,
forif we cannotadvance in the designof culturalpatternswith
59
of the
absolutecertainty,
neithercan we restcompletelyconfident
of
the
status
quo.
superiority
VI
Apartfromtheirpossiblyobjectionableconsequences,scientific
methodsseemto makeno provisionforcertainadmirablequalities
and facultieswhich seem to have flourishedin less explicitly
planned cultures;hence theyare called "degrading"or "lacking
in dignity."(Mr. Krutchhas called the author'sWaiden Two an
"ignobleUtopia.") The conditionedreflexis thecurrentwhipping
in animals,
boy.Becauseconditionedreflexes
maybe demonstrated
theyare spokenofas thoughtheywereexclusivelysubhuman.It is
implied,as we have seen,thatno behavioralprocessesare involved
in educationand moraldiscourseor,at least,thattheprocessesare
exclusivelyhuman. But men do show conditionedreflexes(for
by all instancesof the control
example,when theyare frightened
of human behaviorbecause some instancesengenderfear),and
animalsdo showprocessessimilarto thehumanbehaviorinvolved
in instruction
and moraldiscourse.When Mr. Krutchassertsthat
"
'Conditioning'is achieved by methodswhich by-passor, as it
thoseveryreasoningfacultieswhicheducation
were,short-circuit
proposesto cultivateand exercise,"he is makinga technicalstatementwhichneeds a definitionof termsand a greatdeal of supportingevidence.
If such methodsare called "ignoble"simplybecausetheyleave
no roomforcertainadmirableattributes,
thenperhapsthepractice
of admirationneeds to be examined.We mightsay thatthe child
whoseeducationhas been skillfully
plannedhas been deprivedof
the rightto intellectualheroism.Nothinghas been leftto be admiredin thewayhe acquiresan education.Similarly,we can conceiveofmoraltrainingwhichis so adequate to thedemandsofthe
but to that
culturethatmenwill be good practically
automatically,
extenttheywill be deprivedof the rightto moralheroism,since
we seldomadmireautomaticgoodness.Yet ifwe considerthe end
of moralsratherthan certainvirtuousmeans,is not "automatic
Is it not, forexample,the
goodness"a desirablestateof affairs?
60
65