Richard Skinner Research Paper

The philosophy of science is the study of how science goes about its own business, that is, how science obtains knowledge. Knowledge must be obtained gradually. How knowledge is obtained, and even what knowledge really is, remains controversial. One aspect of scientific activity that all philosophers of science seem to agree on is the dialectical nature of scientific knowledge. In other words, it seems clear that scientists are in a constant swing between adherence to rules of proper scientific conduct such as methodologies, theories, hypothesis, and the rejection of these same rules to adopt new ideas. The philosophy of psychology also closely monitors contemporary work conducted in cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and artificial
His work was very important and has been studied by many for years. Skinner was a very straightforward man and a very educated man. His theories have helped mankind in many ways. He has studied the behavior patterns of many living organisms. He has studied the behavior patterns of many living organisms. Skinner was a well-published writer. His work has been published in many journals. He also has written many books on behaviorism. His most important work was the study of behaviorism. Skinner read Bertrand Russell 's book Philosophy, leading to his interest in psychology. Within this book, Russell had described Watsons Behaviorism which furthered his attraction to philosophical issues in psychology. Skinner began Harvard as a committed behaviourist (Ferguson & O ' Donohue, 2001) He said, "Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the philosophy of that science" (Skinner, 1974). Skinner was an important philosopher of psychology. He developed what he called radical behaviorism, which was his philosophy for studying psychological matters. He was influenced by a 16th Century philosopher of science Francis Bacon, whom placed emphasis on observation and induction, along with many scientists and researchers whose work he followed. He chose elements of their theories and combined them with his own ideas creating a wholly unique philosophy of science and experimentation Skinner stated "Behaviorism is not the science of human behaviour; it is the philosophy of that science" (Skinner, 1974, p.3) He further stated that "behaviorism is a formulation which makes possible an effective experimental approach to human behaviour. It is a working hypothesis about the nature of subject matter" (Skinner, 1970, p.18). Skinner believed that psychology should be the study of behaviour and for Skinner this is anything that the organism does. Skinner called his kind of behaviorism 'radical ' because