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ANDREW Mc:LAUGHLIN
of creating new ones. But we still would have to decide what kind of
environments we want. For although we may
be
products of our en–
vironment, the fact is that some experiences stimulate the ability to
choose while others deaden it. Knowledge of the role of environment
makes it possible for us to create environments which foster indepen–
dence, spontaneity and unpredictability - as well as environments which
make people more dependent and predictable. Therefore, a science of
human behavior does not preclude human freedom and may, in fact,
be used to foster it.
Intelligent choice also involves making one's values clear. Skinner
seems to have values about the future but he hides them under a cloak
of "science" and neutrality. He distiguishes three levels of values: the
personal, the social and the cultural. The most fundamental value is
that of cultural survival, which is the only value "according to which a
culture is eventually to be judged." But who is going to make the
eventual judgment, and are other values also involved? All he says is
that if the culture does not engender a concern for its survival, then
it is less likely to survive. He cites no evidence that concern for cultural
survival increases the probability of survival. And, in the end, Skinner
admits that he has not given a "good reason" for caring about the
survival of culture since there is none. In fact, given Skinner's view of
reasoned argument, it is a mystery how he can distinguish between
"good" and "bad" reasons.
Perhaps on the level of platitude one can accept cultural survival
as a basic value. But the pressing question is what
sort
of culture we
should try to preserve or create. What kind does Skinner want? Since
his values are hidden under a facade of scientism, one has to look care–
fully. In a discussion of utopias, he says that the fundamental question
for any utopia is whether it would really work - apparently the de–
sirability of the utopia is irrelevant. The occasion for utopian thought
is that a "traditional culture has been examined and found wanting,"
which would suggest a set of values beneath Skinner's "hard" science.
They surface when he identifies the problems of our culture: "students
no longer respond in traditional ways to educational environments; they
drop out of school ... they take only courses which they enjoy . . .
they destroy school property and attack teachers and officials." Young
people "refuse to serve in the armed forces and desert or defect to
other countries" and "work as little as possible," and "workers are not
very productive and often absent." Some of his other "problems" are
less problematic, such as the almost continuous warfare between nations.
But, obviously, different values lead to a different formulation: we
