Daniel Grandinetti

How Was Skinner Wrong Daniel Grandinetti

"How Skinner Was Wrong" presents a strong and simple account against Skinner's critical philosophy of Psychology. In Skinner's view, psychological explanations are internalist, i.e., they point out as causes for behavior inner and private motives, such as desires, fears, and beliefs. The inner and private origin of these causes implies that (1) they cannot be known by third parties and that (2) it is not possible to directly modify them. This is the thesis analyzed and criticized in this work. Its conclusion inverts Skinner's account: Subjective motives are as objective as environmental contingencies; plus, they are the basis of these contingencies, for they give them meaning. Thus, when it is impossible to infer the subjective sense of behavioral analysis, it becomes vague, allusive, inaccurate, misleading, and ineffective in controlling behavior. That's Grandinetti's controversial and riveting conclusion for this great book.