- Capitalism and Alternatives -

ahem

In Reply to: Skinner and Chomsky posted by Hank on February 08, 19100 at 12:22:19:

: Furthermore, said Chomsky, terms such as "stimulus" and "response" are, in spite of their scientific veneer, ultimately vague and circular. To use Chomsky's example, if a person is looking at a painting she might say "Dutch" or "Clashes with the wallpaper. Hey, I thought you liked abstract art" or a host of other things. The only way we know that the speaker was impressed by the "Dutchness" of the painting is because the speaker's response to it was "Dutch." So, the Behaviorist Model INFERS the stimulus FROM the response instead of having the stimulus PREDICT the response.

Piper: Just a minor point, Skinner wasn't a stimulus/response behaviourist. You might want to tell that to Chomsky.

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