I am unfamiliar with the term “radical Behaviorism”. The way I understand the history of psychology, “Behaviorism” is a political agenda that emerged in response to Freudianism. My biggest qualm with historical Behaviorism is that it did not just throw out Freudianism. By treating behavior as the only psychological observable, it threw out valuable sources of knowledge too.
The paradigmatic Radical Behaviourist is John B. Watson. In his paradigmatic work, “Behaviorism”, he asserted that there is no such thing as a mind, and that, for example, a dress designer cannot have any image in his mind of the dress he intends to create. (“He has not, or he would not waste his time making it up; he would make a rough sketch of it or he would tell his assistant how to make it.”) There are some who would defend him against the charge of believing something so absurd, but here is a radical behaviourist of the present day emphatically upholding this view. I am inclined to take Watson at his word, and surmise that he did not believe in minds because he was unaware of his own: he had no subjective experience of his own self. Only such a person, it seems to me, could have written what he did.
I don’t know how behaviourism vs. Freudianism aligns with any political division (or where all the other schools of psychology would fit). However, behaviourism would obviously serve the agenda of someone who would agree with Number 2: “The whole world, as this Village?” “That is my dream.”
I have noticed a political aspect to Bayes vs. frequentism: right-wing and left-wing respectively. As someone right-leaning who thinks that the correct union of the two, choosing the right tool for the job, is all of the former and none of the latter, I would say the reason for that alignment is that Bayesian reasoning requires you to know what you know and use it, while frequentist reasoning requires that you pretend not to know what you know, and on no account use it. But an actual frequentist, if one can be found, might differ.
ETA: I had thought that behaviorism arose in reaction to introspectionism, which was collapsing due to the failure of the introspectionists to agree about the basic facts of their introspections.
Thank you for the description. I’m definitely not a “radical Behaviorist”, since I do believe there is a mind. I observe my own mind and the downstream effects of others’ minds. I do have subjective experience, but to use the phrase “my own self” would distract us into metaphysical territory I’d rather avoid.
Behaviorism has lots of political implications. I read somewhere that it has historically been used to rationalize (in the confabulation/retcon/propaganda/justification sense) authoritarian dehumanizing systems.
while frequentist reasoning requires that you pretend not to know what you know, and on no account use it
I like this argument. It’s healthy food for thought.
ETA: I had thought that behaviorism arose in reaction to introspectionism, which was collapsing due to the failure of the introspectionists to agree about the basic facts of their introspections.
I wouldn’t say you’re wrong. To prevent possible miscommunication, I would like to note that Behaviorism arose in response to Freudian introspection. Mystical introspection is a different thing that wasn’t even on Western psychology’s radar at the time.
The paradigmatic Radical Behaviourist is John B. Watson. In his paradigmatic work, “Behaviorism”, he asserted that there is no such thing as a mind, and that, for example, a dress designer cannot have any image in his mind of the dress he intends to create. (“He has not, or he would not waste his time making it up; he would make a rough sketch of it or he would tell his assistant how to make it.”) There are some who would defend him against the charge of believing something so absurd, but here is a radical behaviourist of the present day emphatically upholding this view. I am inclined to take Watson at his word, and surmise that he did not believe in minds because he was unaware of his own: he had no subjective experience of his own self. Only such a person, it seems to me, could have written what he did.
I don’t know how behaviourism vs. Freudianism aligns with any political division (or where all the other schools of psychology would fit). However, behaviourism would obviously serve the agenda of someone who would agree with Number 2: “The whole world, as this Village?” “That is my dream.”
I have noticed a political aspect to Bayes vs. frequentism: right-wing and left-wing respectively. As someone right-leaning who thinks that the correct union of the two, choosing the right tool for the job, is all of the former and none of the latter, I would say the reason for that alignment is that Bayesian reasoning requires you to know what you know and use it, while frequentist reasoning requires that you pretend not to know what you know, and on no account use it. But an actual frequentist, if one can be found, might differ.
ETA: I had thought that behaviorism arose in reaction to introspectionism, which was collapsing due to the failure of the introspectionists to agree about the basic facts of their introspections.
Thank you for the description. I’m definitely not a “radical Behaviorist”, since I do believe there is a mind. I observe my own mind and the downstream effects of others’ minds. I do have subjective experience, but to use the phrase “my own self” would distract us into metaphysical territory I’d rather avoid.
Behaviorism has lots of political implications. I read somewhere that it has historically been used to rationalize (in the confabulation/retcon/propaganda/justification sense) authoritarian dehumanizing systems.
I like this argument. It’s healthy food for thought.
I wouldn’t say you’re wrong. To prevent possible miscommunication, I would like to note that Behaviorism arose in response to Freudian introspection. Mystical introspection is a different thing that wasn’t even on Western psychology’s radar at the time.