It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled. - B. F. Skinner

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It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled.

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About B. F. Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (20 March 1904 – 18 August 1990) was an American behaviorist, author, inventor, baseball enthusiast, social philosopher and poet.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Birth Name: Burrhus Frederic Skinner
Alternative Names: Skinner BF Burrhus F. Skinner B.F. Skinner
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Additional quotes by B. F. Skinner

Science not only describes, it predicts. It deals not only with the past but with the future. Nor is prediction the last word: to the extent that relevant conditions can be altered, or otherwise controlled, the future can be controlled. If we are to use the methods of science in the field of human affairs, we must assume that behavior is lawful and determined. We must expect to discover that what a man does is the result of specifiable conditions and that once these conditions have been discovered, we can anticipate and to some extent determine his actions.

Compare two people, one of whom has been crippled by an accident, the other by an early environmental history which makes him lazy and, when criticized, mean. Both cause great inconvenience to others, but one dies a martyr, the other a scoundrel.

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