TAKING PRAGMATISM SERIOUSLY: A REVIEW OF WILLIAM BAUMS UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIORISM: BEHAVIOR CULTURE AND EVOLUTION (SECOND EDITION)

摘要

This important book has two main purposes. The first is to present, in a non-technical way, accessible to intelligent laypeople, a scientific, behavioral approach to all aspects of human activity including choice, rule-governed behavior, self control, religious belief, linguistic interaction, ethics, and culture. Its scope equals that of Skinner's nontechnical writings, but Baum's approach is more molar and more pragmatic than Skinner's. The book's second purpose is to embed behavioral science firmly in the context of Darwinian evolution. Baum is generally successful, we believe, in both of these ambitious purposes.