Audio log: Skinner autonomy

A quote by B.F. Skinner about autonomy.

## Location

Go up the stairs leading inside the keep and make a 180-degree turn to face the hedge mazes. Head straight past the mazes to reach a wall overlooking the monastery. Head left to find an area with a dropped pot, as well as another tape.

## Transcript

In the traditional view a person is free. He is autonomous in the sense that his behavior is uncaused...

That view, together with its associated practices, must be re-examined when a scientific analysis reveals unexpected controlling relations between behaviour and environment....

By questioning the control exercised by autonomous man and demonstrating the control exercised by the environment, a science of behavior also seems to question dignity or worth.
A person is responsible for his behavior, not only in the sense that he may be justly blamed or punished when he behaves badly, but also in the sense that he is to be given credit and admired for his achievements.

A scientific analysis shifts the credit as well as the blame to the environment, and traditional practices can then no longer be justified. These are sweeping changes, and those who are committed to traditional theories and practices naturally resist them....

As the emphasis shifts to the environment, the individual seems to be exposed to a new kind of danger.

Who is to construct the controlling environment and to what end? Autonomous man presumably controls himself in accordance with a built-in set of values; he works for what he finds good. But what will the putative controller find good, and will it be good for those he controls?

Answers to questions of this sort are said, of course, to call for value judgements.

B.F. Skinner, 1971

## Literal interpretation

This quote is found right next to a number of mazes, which Skinner famously used to let mice run through in order to study their behaviour.

## Literary context

The text in this quote seems to come from B.F. Skinner's book "Beyond freedom and dignity" in which he argues that since humans are a product of their environment and there are global problems like crime and wars, it should be possible and even ethical to construct society in a way that you could control people to live better lives.
The book was very controversial of course, where some even said that this kind of thinking completely opens the door to tyrrany and dictatorships.

The rows of 3 dots imply that some parts are left out, so we don't know the full context of the text. The parts that are quoted basically read as such:
Given that all behaviour is caused, we can say that free will doesn't really exist. This means that if people do bad things, it's not their own responsibility, but it's because of their environment. In this case we can't praise or blame the person for their deeds.
If we accept this though, we have to think about who builds the environment and how ehtical their beliefs are.

## Relation to the six themes of the Witness

This quote is part of Theme 1: Skepticism.

Theme 1 deals with the question of who has knowledge and how you make sure they don't use it to hold power over you. This quote very directly warns us that someone could use our environment as a weapon to completely control our behaviour and that we don't know if we can trust them with our best interests.