Behavior and Its Causes: Philosophical Foundations of Operant Psychology

ISBN-13: 9780792328155 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 267 str.

Terry L. Smith; T. L. Smith

Opis

This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information, and data-processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental, and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. While most philosophers and psychologists tend to believe that the rise of cognitive psychology has occurred concomitant with the decline of operant psychology, Terry L. Smith contends that nothing could be further from the truth. He maintains that operant psychology has discovered (and continues to discover) reasonably well-confirmed causal principles of intentional behavior, which go beyond what cognitive psychology can provide, while cognitive psychology, in tum, has the potential to supply analyses (and explanations) that account for them. Smith thus advances a surprising but nonetheless illuminating perspective for appreciating the place of operant conditioning within the discipline of psychology in this rich and fascinating work. J. H. F.

Spis treści

Series Preface. Preface. Introduction: The Anomalous Survival of Operant Psychology. Part I: Understanding the Program of Research. 1. Defining the Operant. 2. Not a Form of S-R Psychology. 3. The Functional Nature of Behavioral Categories. Part II: Circumventing Standard Criticisms of the Program. 4. Minor Problems. 5. Folk Psychology's Critique. 6. Rebutting Folk Psychology's Critique. 7. A Sophisticated Rejoinder by Philosophers. Part III: Weighing the Strengths and Weaknesses of Radical Behaviorism. 8. What is Radical Behaviorism? 9. The Scientific Case for Radical Behaviorism. 10. The Analogy with Natural Selection. Part IV: Disentangling the Program from Radical Behaviorism. 11. Transcending Behaviorism. 12. Operant Psychology without Behaviorism. References. Index of Names. Index of Subjects.