Bf Skinner Beyond Freedom And Dignity Analysis

In “Beyond Freedom and Dignity,” B. F. Skinner argues that human behavior is determined by environment and biology. Perhaps the strongest argument that Skinner gives for this claim relies on the claim that free will and moral autonomy do not exist. In this paper, I will argue that this argument is correct because free will and moral autonomy do not exist and are harmful to the building of a happier and more stable society. In “Being & Nothingness,” Jean-Paul Sartre argues that freedom of will is absolute but everyone hides this freedom of will from themselves in bad faith. Bad faith when someone “explicitly reject this kind of explanation because their essence implies that they can appear only in the translucency of consciousness (pg. 54).” In other words, bad faith is someone who understands that they have freedom of will, but will ignore or hide this freedom from themselves. For example, a woman is consented to go out with a man, she knows his intentions and understands she must make a decision but chooses to turn away from having to make a choice. This shows bad faith in that the woman, who knows she has the freedom to reject the man who’s intentions, while seem sincere, are sexual but chooses to ignore that freedom and continue on. Skinner claims that free will does not exist, this is where I agree. Skinner argues that technology of behavior could solve the problems quickly that we could “move towards a peaceful world with something like the steady progress with which physics has” (pg.5). Free will, in contrast, does not exist and “theories of human behavior

25). (P2) A person is responsible for his behavior (pg. 21). (P3) Behavior, operates upon the environment to produce consequences and can be studied by arranging environments in which specific consequences are contingent upon it (pg. 18).

(1) Science is human behavior, and so is the opposition to science (pg.