On Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B. F. Skinner

In 1971, the Western world was in the midst of the Cold War and debates raged about how we should act to ensure our long-term security and safety. In the same year, Burrhus Frederic Skinner published his highly controversial book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Already renowned as a behaviourist, author, social philosopher, inventor and professor of psychology at Harvard University, he set out to develop the ideas of how we could solve the world's growing problems. The controversial element was that, unlike conventional philosophical thought, Skinner did not consider man as fundamentally different from animals. Strongly influenced by Darwin's idea of natural selection, he believed that man, just like other animals, performs behaviours which are reinforcing or avoid aversive consequences, unlike previous philosophers who believed that man has internal drives to do good, be heroic or make a choice to perform antisocial acts, Skinner believed these were outside our internal control and produced by environmental reinforcers. Applying strict scientific method, he wished to explore these complex reinforcers.